Alternate Realities: The Dark Queen
by Ehren Hatten
Summary: Queen Arturia Pendragon reigns over a desolate Briton. Her people need her to give them more land where they might get goods from and the only great big plot of green near is Ireland. Chapter FIFTY THREE is up. Look up trailer on YouTube! fatalrob0t
1. Prologue

_**A/N: Fellow Fate fans, I apologize to you for this, but this is something I like to do when I role play with my friend Amanda, who is also a fellow fate fan. So basically, if you don't actually like alternate realities being explored through characters that are already established, then please refrain from reading this, as this is going to get very mashed together really quickly.**_

_**Anyway, so this is one of two alternate realities using the Fate characters that I came up with while role playing with my friend. I was getting really into doing this one, so I decided I should write it down in story form for the masses. Also, warning, this is not strictly Fate/Stay Night, but has a few other things pushed in.**_

_**Cue Rod Serling… . **_

**Alternate Realities:**

_The Dark Queen_

_**Prologue**_

In a world where the fate of one human boy hangs in the balance, his choices alone giving him the path that will either lead him to victory or ultimate destruction. However, it isn't just his choices that give us our paths, but the choices of others and even those from the past. For every choice you have, there are an infinite number of possibilities you could have taken and a world devoted to the path that you could have taken rather than the one you did. These worlds are parallel dimensions to ours and sometimes they are completely different from ours altogether, making them an alternate reality rather than a parallel dimension.

Sometimes, however, worlds collide and come together to form new ones and sometimes worlds have already been together for a while and have brought in new ones for the workings of the world. These worlds are like magnets for others, bringing in those worlds and people to their own without realizing that they are the cause of that world.

This world is one such world where in almost every reality possible, the world has successfully collided enough times with everyone else that none of the worlds are the same anymore. The world in which this version of the people live is more bleak than the one they would be accustomed to, however, as they are not the same as their other dimensional counterparts, they have no knowledge of how they would be living otherwise.

This world that you are about to learn about has the misfortune of being set into the far distant future, when the world has grown colder and darker and the people are crying out for a hero. Some of these people get their hero, some do not. The wizards and witches of the world flock to the north for the one school that has lasted through all the ages, been rebuilt and has taken in not only the families, but the children and taught them as they have always taught. One such wizard was born from the faeries wishes and sent to the school to learn the craft. This wizard grew older as the years went by and knew one day that the great king of Briton would one day come back in his lifetime. This wizard knew this and was determined to find this boy and raise him to the life he would know and care for.


	2. Chapter One

_**A/N: Allright, so the beginning is set and now we can get on with the actual story. And yes, I have a small "Merlin" obsession when it comes to the movie. As soon as I saw that movie the first time, I was immediate taken by the way Sam Neil portrayed Merlin. From then on, I can't really see Merlin acting any other way except a small portion of the really old Merlin being from the Disney cartoon movie, which still puts me in tears as I laugh at him.**_

_**Chapter One**_

Arturia Pendragon looked at the cold gray sky of her native home. Her white blonde hair was pulled back against her head in a tight bun with a black ribbon and some was left to frame her face so that she might look less severe. This did not serve her well, as she usually looked very severe most of the time. Her pale gold eyes scanned the rocky hill where some sparse grass grew. A sword was stuck in one of the rocks, holding it in place as though it was a marker of some sort.

She saw her teacher, master, walking toward the sword and settle down on one of the rocks, beckoning her with a hand. He was middle aged in appearance, though she knew he was far older than he appeared. He kept the hood of his cloak up at all times to keep others from knowing him on sight, his face famous throughout the legends of Briton, her home. The Scots of the north kept a boundary up at all times to keep the Britons out of their land and away from their precious royal family, who kept the secret of the magics there. One thing plagued her, however, as she stood in front of the sword and stared at the frozen hilt of black and red. Was there only one royal family or no royals at all up north? She had never seen any come to the castle for any reason; there were wizards and witches that would come, but never any royals.

She reached her hand out to the hilt and felt a spark go through her. She jerked back and looked up in surprise at Merlin. Merlin smiled faintly and shrugged. "It is the nature of the thing, my dear Arturia. You must do as your heart bids," he said with a faint smile on his face, "However, you must remember that to take that sword will grant you power that is unimaginable as well as the curse of being king of this land."

Arturia gazed at her master with a granite like face. That was the most unnerving thing about Arturia, the cold, stone like look that would often come across her pale features when she looked at you. It was as though you might as well have been staring into a mirror, for all it was going to tell you. Merlin grunted and sighed as he leaned back against the rock behind him, his staff next to him. "Be like that then, Arturia, but you won't be any closer to having the sword. The sword goes to the king of Briton, and only to the rightful, true, GOOD king of Briton."

Arturia looked at the sword again and a faint reddish light pulsed like a heart in the circles and runes engraved in the black metal. She reached out again and put her hand on it, gritting her teeth in her mouth as she felt the electricity flow into her. It was impossible! She took her hand away and rubbed it as she watched the sword with increasing irritation.

"It seems as though you aren't the one it was seeking, then," said Merlin as he watched her through blue eyes. "I told the rocks beneath your feet that the one who would take the sword would be the true, just king of this land, would rule over the people as a true king should and not one wanting power only."

Arturia afforded Merlin a small glance before she gazed at the rock holding the sword steady in front of her. "I do not promise anything. I can't feel anything other than the cold of this world, however, I want to make sure none of my people will suffer again the way they have. If I am the daughter of Uther Pendragon and they need an heir for the throne, then, by God, I will do what I can."

Merlin felt a small amount of pride swell in his heart as he gazed at his pupil. The girl was strong of spirit and prideful like a lion, however, she did not know anything of emotion of feelings, as she was never brought up with true loving people around her except, of course, him. He tried his best to give her something akin to the love of a father, but she knew he was neither her father nor any sort of relation toward her. Her own mother hated her, her sister hated her more and both shoved her off onto him to deal with for they both could not stand the very sight of her. As powerful as she was in her heart, he also knew that magic flowed strongly in her veins, though she had never received the letter from the same magic school he did. They didn't even know of her as a possible witch. The magic in her blood would be useful in using Excalibur only, wielding it would consume a great deal of her power just to fight. However, there was one other thing he needed to complete the sword's power. To fight, she would need Avalon at her side, which was named after the holy island that was in legends.

Avalon, the scabbard for the holy sword, was still with the lady of the lake, as he had asked her to keep it for him while he made certain that the sword was kept safe elsewhere. One could use the sword by itself, but one could not fight safely without the scabbard, for the scabbard healed the user even near the point of death.

Merlin watched Arturia walk toward the sword once more and watched her reach out to it. "I will do what I can to protect the people of Briton," she said softly and touched the sword. The sword sparked and glowed. He was wrong, the sword wanted her, but she didn't know that she had to grasp it with both hands in order to get a good enough grip to withstand the shocks going through her body.

Arturia put her other hand onto the hilt and pulled with all her might as she put her foot onto the ground next to the sword. "Please! GIVE ME EXCALIBUR!"

It was as though the rock understood her as the sword suddenly leapt into her hands and she stumbled backward with it. She was very strong for a young girl of fifteen, though the weight of the blade was still a bit much for her. Despite her small size, she could still hold it up. She looked up at the tip and looks up at the dark clouds as a bit of snow started to fall.

Merlin stood up with the use of his staff and got off the rocks. "It seems you are to be the king of our little island, then, Arturia."

Arturia didn't look at Merlin as he came closer. She simply put the blade point down toward the ground and closed her eyes. "I am no man, I am a woman. I am a Queen, not a King."

Merlin was taken aback slightly as he watched her. She could say such a thing with such a straight face, he couldn't tell if she were joking or not. "I raised you to be a king, to act as a boy would, not a girl."

"Nevertheless, I am a woman. I am of marriageable age and I will find myself a husband to rule beside me, but not before I establish Camelot as a good power in this realm." She finally looked to him with those odd, gold eyes of hers and he wondered if she might not have inherited more magic from his help than he had thought.

Merlin nodded slightly and walked down to her side. "All right then, you will tell the people that their new ruler is a woman and see how well they accept it."

Arturia flashed him a glare that sent his heart into his throat. If she could have killed him with a look, she would have. "They will accept it or they will not be in Camelot. There were women who ruled the ancients of legends and there were women who are still accepted as great warrior women of a time so long ago that they seem more like they were really fairytales told to children to make them grow stronger. If the people can not accept me as their Queen, then they will have to reevaluate their own history." With that, she turned on her heel and headed straight for Camelot, her black wolf fur lined cloak billowing in the wind picking up.

Merlin had a strange feeling in his stomach that this was not the last of this conversation. Indeed, he feared that this was but the beginning of something far more sinister and more terrible that he could have possibly imagined. The legends said that when Briton needed him most that Arthur Pendragon would come back from the island of Avalon and take his place as the rightful ruler of all Briton. When Merlin had heard this as a child in school, he knew that it would come to pass when he was still living, that he would aid this man into becoming king. If the king was indeed, instead a man a woman who was proud of being as such, then what would happen to the legends?

* * *

A young man, lithely built and strong with a spear, practiced beside his comrades in the field next to the castle of Ulster. He was growing still, though he had been small for his age, yet, he held a great deal of power and prowess in all his activities. As a child in the boy corps, he was known for being the best of all the boys in hurley, and gained his name from an incident where he used this prowess in hurley to his advantage against the guard hound of the castle's blacksmith Culainn. He watched the boy corps as they played in the field, just before getting the wind knocked out of him by one of the men. "OW!"

The man pulled away and chuckled, offering him a hand. "Apologies, Cuchulainn, please take my hand so I can make you fly into the air as I lift you up!" Because he was much thinner than the men he fought against, he often had the chance to hear of this sort of comment. However, he knew they meant it in jest and took it as such. They knew what sort of anger boiled under the surface of the Hound of Culainn.

A lone rider was galloping for the gate at a fast pace. He wore black armor and wore a dark red tabard that he did not recognize. Cuchulainn had been all over and he had never seen such clothing before. He looked to his fellows and shrugged. "Must be a messenger of some sort," he said and grinned.

"Indeed, it is. It's a rider of Camelot," said one of the older men. "I would recognize that black armor anywhere. They used to say that the metal was made black to better block the chill of the air in Briton from the knights, but I have yet to see such a thing ring true."

Cuchulainn frowned and watched as the rider ran up the steps to the castle and disappeared into the main hall. He had a strange feeling he couldn't shake, as though he would be seeing that armor sometime soon.

Arturia frowned at the petition she held in her hand. The people were rioting outside the main hall doors and demanding she relinquish her power. A woman could not be a ruler, not of these people, they said.

"I told you that they would not have it. It is fine in legends, but for the now, it will not come to pass. The only place I have seen such a matriarchy is in my old magic school and it is rare for them to go south past the wasteland. The knights of the school are led by a woman who looks a great deal like you and shares your name.

Arturia flicked her gaze up at Merlin. "Where is the scabbard."

Merlin felt his insides chill as he saw the look upon her face. "It is with the lady where it will rest until you are accepted by your people as Queen."

Arturia narrowed her eyes at Merlin, causing him to move back slightly. "Is that so?" She smiled faintly, very faintly, and nodded. "All right, then I shall make sure my people accept me. You are dismissed, Merlin."

Merlin frowned at the rather short dismissal from his pupil, but he saw the task she had ahead of her was indeed a daunting one. The books she had in front of her were of legends that she herself was a part of and she was reviewing them all with enough energy for three of him. She would find a solution and he would have to take her to see the lady. He knew that for certain.

* * *

Cuchulainn found that the messenger had brought news that the great sword Excalibur had been taken from the stone that had imprisoned it for the great king of Briton to take. He blinked at this news, unable to recall this part of the islands. He knew Briton well enough, but Camelot was someplace different. The armor and the people were unknown to him. The rider had been from Camelot and was staying within the walls of Ulster until the next day when he would ride back out at dawn to go home.

"What of the one who took the sword? Who was it? Are they king yet?" He looked to his companion with those eerie red eyes of his, blue hair getting in his face when the wind blew it forward. Cuchulainn frowned and pushed it back before looking to his companion once more for an answer.

His companion shook his grizzly head and spat into the grass. "It's a woman, they said. A woman who is of the Pendragon line. That she took the sword and the people do not want her as their king, indeed, she wants to be their Queen. To be ruling them as a woman. I'm surprised that she didn't pretend to be a man to deal with the people."

Cuchulainn shook his head and leaned on his spear. "No… if she is a woman, she should claim to be as such, for claiming otherwise would be lying to her own people and thus more wrong to them than showing herself to be who she is. Nay, she did the right thing and I'm glad to know of such a woman. I hope to see her one day when I find myself over there. She sounds like a woman I might like," he said, a twinkle in his red eyes.

The old man he spoke to snorted and laughed. "Aye, that is the lad we know. Always one to praise women rather than condemn them for being women. Eh… never really liked being women other than in bed, but this sort makes me nervous. Don't like it when they are this straight forward, but that is this old man talking and not you."

Cuchulainn grinned a wide, charming smile at the old man. "Aye, 'tis true enough. I prefer that they say what they want so that I might know what they want rather than guess." With that, he looked over to the girl he knew he would have for his wife. Emer's long purple plait swung at her back as she moved to not look at him and rejoin her fellow maidens in their embroidery. To have the hand of that maid, he would have to go see the warrior witch Sgatha and train a year. He knew this and he knew he was going to make certain he had this girl as his wife by the end of the year he would spend with the warrior witch. At that last thought, Cuchulainn kicked up the spear he had borrowed for the day and went off.

* * *

"Show us how you stole the sword!"

"Show us how you took the sword!"

Arturia stepped up to the stone where the sword had been placed. She dreaded the thought that she had only lucked upon taking it from the stone, but placed the sword into the stone no less. The people stared at her and backed away from her as she moved into the back of the crowd.

"Look! Look you there," she called to them, her anger starting to show in her cold features, "Look you there and tell me if that sword will come out of the stone!"

A man walked over to the stone and touched the sword. The sword didn't twitch in the stone, but the man leapt back from it as though he had been shocked. She nodded. "Anyone else, wish to take the sword? Anyone else wanting to know how a mere slip of a girl could take such a thing from the stone?"

A boy moved to the stone and touched the sword, crying out as he did and moved away from the stone. "It shocked me! My arm is numb!!" he cried.

"Let a woman try!"

"Yes, see if a woman can do it, if a girl can!"

A tall, strongly built woman walked up to the sword and placed both hands on it and pulled. The sword did not move. Arturia gazed at the entire display with a calculating gaze. A strong woman could not take the sword, yet a small girl like herself could take it? A man with muscle jumped from it like a boy running to his mother and crying that his arm was numb from it? Yet, in all this, a girl could take the sword from the stone?

Arturia stepped forward after a couple more men tried and failed to pull the sword from the stone. She climbed the rocks and stood on top of the largest stone, the one with the sword in it. She felt the electricity inside of the hilt and grasped it with both hands as she pulled it up out of the rock. She held it up for her people to see and listened to the gasps. She was meant for this blade, that much was certain. She was the one meant for it and no one else.

The people bowed down to her as she walked down the side of the rocks to their position. "If by this sword I am ordained to be your leader, then I will rule as I am, a woman, a Queen. If I must find a husband to fulfill the role as king, then I will do so with the best man I may find, but until then, I will not allow you to tell me I can not rule when it was you who said that this sword was meant for the leader of Camelot alone. Just because I am small, a girl, means little to me." Then, she walked back toward Camelot, her cloak billowing in the wind. The people behind her simply stood and watched her as she left, but followed soon after; some grumbled as they followed, others cheerful, but all followed the new Queen of Briton.


	3. Chapter Two

_**A/N: I'm glad ya'll like this. At least those who read on my Deviantart page, that is. I could scream "PLEEZ RED!!1! REVUUW!!1!!!1111" but I'm not. I just hope ya'll can understand what the heck I write. ; **_

_**Anyway, I've since discovered that the soundtrack for The Dark Crystal works for writing this story, so I've got it set on random and enjoying myself with my mint soda.**_

_**Chapter Two**_

A lake spread out across many miles of territory in front of Arturia as she dismounted from her horse. Merlin sat atop his with a calculating look on his face as he watched her walk toward the lake's brim. The jewel on top of his staff shimmered as he watched the lake's surface ripple.

"The lady will come when she is ready," he said toward Arturia, but he could already see that she knew this. The look of expectancy on her placid, cold features told him everything he needed to know. He watched her a while longer before looking out to the rippling water. "She is judging whether it is someone she should see or not. If she does not come, then we might as well leave to come back another day."

"I will not leave until I have the scabbard."

Merlin was being constantly surprised by his pupil. The stubborn streak in her was both irritating and amazing. He wondered if she would sit where she was standing through the freezing night just to see the lady and then realized she would. For her saftey's sake, he hoped that the Lady would come to greet the new queen.

"Why is the lake unfrozen?"

Merlin gazed to Arturia once again, smiling faintly that she was at least assessing the situation she was in. "Because the Lady lives in the lake. The Lady is a spirit of the lake, she gives the lake life and thus life flourishes in the lake despite the chill."

"But life must sleep at some point," said Arturia as she continued to watch the water's surface for the Lady herself.

"Life does sleep in the lake, but life here is frozen, cold and unfeeling. It has been sleeping for far too long a time, ever since the great war between the ancients. They brought on the winter and the unnatural chill. They were the ones that caused those unfortunates living in the wastelands to rot, their bodies unable to grow or function normally like the rest of us do to the extreme heat of the weapons that the ancients used."

"The great war did that? What sort of weapons did our ancestors have?"

Merlin watched his pupil for any sign of malicious or malevolent nature, but her face was the same cold mask that she always had. "They were bombs that exploded at the smallest possible level, causing a radiation of sorts that changed their genetic structures, giving them and their decedents the unnatural bodies and functions they have now. What they have now is a disease that only they can have, for it'll only strike them alone."

Arturia looked toward him for once as he spoke and watched him carefully. "They should not live in the wasteland. There are places on the outskirts of Camelot that would suffice for living and they would not be far from food sources and water should they need them. They could work, if they are able, if their bodies do not give their disease to the people of Camelot."

"It would be hard to have your people agree to allow these outsiders to join their ranks," said Merlin, watching the lake now.

"Yes, it will be hard, but it will be better for them if they do not have to be alone."

Not for the first time, Merlin felt pride swell in his heart at his young pupil. Despite the chill of her outside, inside she felt pity and wished to care for those who were not as fortunate as she to be healthy and normal.

The lake bubbled as a white haired woman came through the surface. She was clad in the brightest, most beautiful mail dress that he had ever seen, more beautiful than those of the paintings he had seen of knights from the past. Had his old history professor ever seen the Lady herself, she might have started giggling like a little girl, though he had seen her change into one on a couple of occasions. Her hair was the same color as the Lady's, as well. All her children had the same hair, white as snow.

The Lady moved closer to them, floating over the water as though suspended in a bubble of water herself. She moved toward Arturia and gazed at her with those pale eyes of hers, the shining mail dress covering a shimmering blue dress underneath. "You are… the king?" Her voice was far away, as though she wasn't actually floating in front of them.

Arturia gazed at the water spirit carefully. "I am the Queen."

The Lady watched Arturia for a moment and touched the girl's face with a single, wet, finger, stroking her cheek. "You are the one who Merlin wanted to raise; the king that he knew would unite this land?"

Merlin coughed from atop his horse and got off the saddle. "Aye, that would be the king, m'lady."

The Lady moved around Arturia, assessing her. She saw the sword at the young girl's side and frowned faintly. "She has… taken the sword from the stone? The spirit of the earth allowed such a thing?"

Merlin shook his head. "The spirit of the earth has long been asleep. The stones are the ones who held the sword, not the earth."

Arturia watched the Lady with that stone like mask of hers. "Is there a problem with me, m'lady?"

The Lady gazed at Arturia once more and moved away. "Stones do not assess the heart. They see the same exterior as their own."

Merlin frowned, hoping the Lady wasn't about to deny the girl the scabbard. The girl wasn't known for throwing fits or tantrums, however, she was stubborn enough to risk her own life to sit right there and brave the cold of the night. As it was, the wind was starting to pick up and the snow to fall a little.

"Are you telling me that I do not have the heart for Avalon?" Arturia's face was just starting to break the cold shell she had. She looked mildly irritated, which told Merlin that she must be livid with the entire situation. "Are you denying me Avalon because you do not trust the rocks assessment of me?"

The Lady hesitated, moving back a bit toward the water away from Arturia. The venom in the girl's words could be felt like so many knives into a person's heart. "I deny you nothing. Avalon will go to you, child, but do not think I would have gone back into the water and left you to die in the night."

Arturia's usual calm face was back as she settled back to her normal stance. The Lady saw the change, heard the girl's words long before she made her presence known, and yet, she still had the feeling that the girl was far more than should ever have been. The sight of the sword being so black also gave her cause for alarm. The sword matched the bearer and beat with the heart of the bearer. Avalon had been withheld from the previous user, Uther, in order to keep the last bit of the holy pair out of his blackened heart's reach. If the sword had remained black beside Arturia, what did that foretell for Avalon?

The Lady held her hands out and Avalon appeared in front of her, a gold and blue scabbard shining brilliantly in the darkening weather. It was like a beacon in the middle of a storm. "I give to you… AVALON. This is the holy scabbard to the holy sword Excalibur. Use it wisely, dear child," she said as the scabbard floated to Arturia.

Arturia saw the scabbard coming toward her. Why was it so bright? Why was it so bright while the sword was so dark? Merlin had told her that the sword and scabbard had been forged together, both of the same materials and both of equal powers that joined together formed the most unbeatable warrior. Why, then, was Excalibur so black and Avalon was so bright?

She took Avalon and held it in her hands. The scabbard remained bright in her cold hands and remained bright still as she took the sword and put it into the large scabbard. Only when the sword connected to the scabbard did the scabbard change. The scabbard's blue turned black and the gold lines turned red and glowed faintly with an eerie pulse as she put the sword back on the belt holding it on her waist.

Merlin noticed this as did the Lady. They both noted how the scabbard remained unchanged even though the girl had held it in her hands. Was there, perhaps, a warm heart beating underneath the snow cold exterior?

Arturia kneeled down to the Lady like one of her knights and bowed her head. "Thank you, Lady of the Lake. I am now complete and may use this to continue the effort to bring my people out of this cold darkness." Then, she stood and got on her horse.

"Know this, O Arturia of the Chief Dragon," said the Lady with that far away voice of hers, "You will not age, nor will you bleed long with that scabbard. Its holy light will keep you from dying and bring you to health even if you are near death's door. However, you will not age from this point on, dear girl. While your knights and people age and grow old around you, you will forever be that face, the face of a young girl just a few years past the age when most are considered marriageable. Please remember this and don't take it as a curse, but know that it is the will of the scabbard and the sword to preserve you until you can not fight anymore. When that time comes, bring the sword to me and you will be able to live as you should."

Arturia gazed at the Lady for a moment. "Will I have children?"

"Yes, you may have that. That is not denied to you. However, you will have to watch them grow old and die as you do not age." The Lady bowed her head and turned back to the lake. "Be well, dear Queen. Not many would have taken your position and turned it into such an advantage." Then, she disappeared under the water.

A small smile came across Arturia's face and Merlin nearly gasped at the sight. It was such a rare thing to see Arturia smile, but he knew it came to her genuinely. "Come, my student, you have people waiting for you to judge them and deal with them. We also have a coronation to attend to, namely yours. You're not queen yet, not officially."

Arturia nodded and started riding back toward Camelot. Merlin followed up behind her, though, not without a final glance toward the lake. The lake froze over slowly as the Lady went to sleep. Merlin had not told Arturia that he had made arrangements with the Lady previously before coming to see her, that it was he who had told the Lady to keep a weather eye out for when he came by to see her about the scabbard. Because it was he who had taken the black sword away from Uther Pendragon and hid the scabbard from him as well and it was he who told the rocks to not wake their slumbering master to keep the sword safe from the vile man.

Merlin spotted the ruins of the ancient cities that used to be around the area. Cold steel skeletons of what used to be tall buildings were all that was left. Some colorful glass still stayed in the panes of the skeletal buildings, as did walls on the interior. However, no one lived in them anymore. They had been able to find stores of old electrical equipment used in such places as the kitchen. They managed to reverse engineer the old rusty "freshers" as they called them by looking through the old texts in the boxes with them, gave them a new power source, one Merlin himself designed, and then they put them to work in the warmer kitchens of the castle and in the bigger homes of the village. The poorer of the people tended to use the unnaturally cold weather to keep their foods cold when they weren't able to use them, which left the richer families the ability to keep their homes warmer for the "freshers" didn't need the cold to function.

Into the walls of Camelot they rode, Arturia in front of him with her black velvet and black fur lined cloak billowing in the building wind. Once inside, they would plan the coronation and invite the peoples of Scotland and of Ireland to join the festivities.

* * *

Everyone had arrived to castle Camelot and was safely tucked away in the castle. The king of Ireland, Conochbar, and his wife and their children and retainers arrived not too many days after the invitation had been sent. They were to bring Ireland's greatest champions as well to witness the crowning of the new queen of Briton, however, one was missing. Cuchulainn, as Arturia had learned, was off on a quest to learn the art of war from a renowned witch named Sgatha. Arturia thought little of it and let the small insult slide.

She was more interested in the champion named Fergus Mac Roich, who was supposedly reputed to be a foster father for the hero Cuchulainn and a former king of Ireland, his step-son having taken the throne from him. When Arturia spied the older man as he rode in with a group of nobles, one of them a rather imposing woman that, Arturia noted, was being very close to Fergus.

Arturia noted, with some irritation, that only a few Scottish nobles came in, one of which had long red hair and had the beauty of a faery. He was representing the MacLeod clan along with his wife, who had long black hair that was left free rather than pulled back like most women did when they wedded. Another couple of nobles came, though Arturia hardly recognized them anymore than she knew the MacLeods. One was tall and very handsome with blonde hair and a blonde beard that looked more like a mane than facial hair. He was very wide shouldered and thick chested, giving him more of a lion like look than a man. His wife was almost as tall as he was, broad shouldered and busty with long blonde curls pulled back under a veil.

"Godric Gryffindor, m'lady," said Merlin as he smiled faintly toward his pupil.

Arturia regarded the tall man with some dislike. He was entirely too cheerful looking and it worried her as he grinned at her with a most mischievous grin. He bowed with a flourish and kissed her hand. "You must be the new queen, aye?"

Arturia nodded and looked to the woman, who bowed slightly toward her and smiled warmly. "I am his wife, Helga."

"A pleasure to meet you, Lord and Lady Gryffindor," said Arturia, though her tone was the same chilly tone as she always spoke with. This didn't seem to detract Godric and Helga one bit.

Godric grinned even more and patted her on the head. "You're a cute girl, I must say. It's been a while since I've seen any sort of royalty, much less a girl as sweet looking as you. You remind me of my own cubs."

Arturia had to move away fast to avoid the very large hand that threatened to completely demolish her hairstyle anymore than it already had. Godric didn't seem to think it odd or unseemly that he treat her in such a fashion. "What do you mean by 'cubs'?"

Godric raised his eyebrows at her and looked genuinely surprised for once. "What do you mean, what do I mean? I call all my children cubs! I'm the lion of Gryffindor, after all! Didn't your master ever mention me?"

Merlin coughed and attempted to look away from the gold eyed stare of both Arturia and Godric. "Why should he have ever mentioned you?" asked Arturia.

Helga, at this point, stepped in. "My husband has the tendency to call all children who are taken into the house of Gryffindor his 'cubs' as that is the young form of a lion. The house of Gryffindor is an esteemed house and one your master was in when he was young."

Arturia's cold face looked very confused and Merlin had to cough once more. "I was fostered in their house, m'lady," he said in a softer tone, trying not to be too conspicuous. He would have to have a talk with Lord and Lady Gryffindor later about this.

"Lord Salazar Slytherin is here with his wife Rowena," called the announcer.

Arturia looked between Salazar and Godric and wondered why they were looking at each other much like old friends, though Salazar being the most unwilling to Godric's more playful look. Salazar and Rowena bowed to her and didn't say much else. Salazar seemed as though he wanted to get away from the place, as though the many people caused him to feel too confined. Rowena, however, seemed to be in her element, though a bit bored. It seemed that she was a really clever woman, but not many around her were of the same intelligence. Merlin seemed very fond of the woman, as he was with Helga, his foster mother.

When the Archbishop arrived from the church, she knew that the time was close for her coronation. Arturia was led to a room where handmaids were left with her to dress her up in a black and red gown, her hair up once more and covered in a dark veil. She was led out of the chamber by one of the maids to Merlin who led her to the main hall.

The hall was filled with people, on either side were Briton, Irish and Scot; each side never once caring that they were next to not one of their own countrymen. Merlin led her down the middle of the hall toward the throne where the Archbishop was standing with her scepter and crown waiting on silk pillows.

She stood on the stairs, looking at the throne and then to the archbishop as he started speaking to her in latin. He told her to kneel and so she did before the archbishop as he blessed her and her coronation and then placed a black robe on her shoulders, black fur lining it, and told her to take her seat on the throne.

"I christen thee, Queen Arturia Pendragon; Queen of Camelot, New London and the surrounding areas of Briton."

She felt the weight of the gold crown as it was placed onto her head. She was given the scepter and was left to the throne as the archbishop moved away from her. Merlin smiled faintly toward her from her other side as did Lord and Lady Gryffindor. Lord and Lady Slytherin seemed far more subdued in their mannerisms, however, she did see Salazar Slytherin look a little misty eyed and mutter something that looked like "She's no cub, she's a hatchling. You'll see." Then, she watched his wife roll her eyes and pat her husband's shoulder in a petting manner.

From that moment, Queen Arturia realized that these were not Scottish nobility, but something far different. Her master was a wizard of the highest degree, though he said he was only a child compared to the headmaster of the school he attended. Could the headmaster have been one of these four strange people?

As she was ushered from the hall by maids and Merlin behind her, she started plotting how she would learn Merlin's secrets, learn the origin of this strange mystery that had been put in front of her onto a platter and taken away before she had been able to even sample what it was like.


	4. Chapter Three

_**A/N: An so we begin another chapter. I'm sure ya'll enjoyed the coronation ceremony, what with the "ZOMG!NEW ENHANCED ESPERIENCE!" music to join the ceremony. w **_

_**achem and yeah, Godric and Salazar… yeah….**_

_**Chapter Three**_

The guests to Camelot castle were given little activities to participate in while they stayed at the castle for a couple of days. Since the snow fell even in summer, the animals had learned to grow long, thick coats on their bodies to keep them warm during the freezing nights. Therefore, hunting the beasts would give Camelot's guests a good few pelts to either sell or use for furs on their cloaks. There was an abundance of wolves since the great war, people having to keep their sheep and cattle in the warmer barns as tightly as they could so that the wolves wouldn't make a meal of them.

It was on one of these hunts that Arturia was introduced to a rather interesting beast that the Irish king Conochbar had brought with him. They were very tall dogs, very thin and somewhat shaggy looking, however, when she watched one run off at a speed she could barely fathom toward a pack of wolves trying to get away, she saw the might of the hounds there. Their speed was great, but not for running an animal down. However, they could reach their destination quickly and attack with power. That was what impressed her. She wondered about the champion of Ireland that was named after the beasts and asked Conochbar about him.

"Him? I helped foster the boy when he was but a babe in his mam's arms. I and Fergus Mac Roich there, Amergin the poet and his wife and another helped educate the boy as he grew. He's a very good lad and a very promising warrior. After Cathbad the druid announced the boy would be henceforth known as Cuchulainn, well, we knew he would be a good warrior," said the king.

Fergus came up on Arturia's other side and smiled down at her. "So this is Briton's new little Queen, aye? Never seen a woman so small, but I'm sure you'll grow." He chuckled and Arturia just fixed him with her rather common cold gaze. He coughed when he saw she wasn't laughing. "Damn chill, always goes for m'lungs."

"I was just telling her about young Cuchulainn, Fergus," said Conochbar, attempting to save face for Fergus.

"The lad? Ah! Little hound, eh?" He chuckled and Arturia could see that he was indeed a rather handsome older man, though still far older than she. "Aye, he's a good lad, does fine with the spear and the sword. He even upholds the creed of his breed."

Fergus chuckled a bit more while Conochbar rolled his eyes. "That again."

Fergus snorted at Conochbar. "You know the creed rings true for him. Just look at the way he reacts toward the women and the men."

Arturia's head was beginning to throb as she swung her head between the two men on either side of her horse, watching their interaction with increasing curiosity. "Creed of his breed?"

Conochbar smiled faintly and faced forward on his horse. "He's referring to the creed of the wolf hound breed."

"Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked," said Fergus.

Arturia had a very strange image in her head of a man that was half dog and frowned. "Why would you say that is the creed of his breed? You didn't have his mother breed with a dog, did you?"

Conochbar saw the confusion in the little queen's face and sighed. "It's more or less a joke pertaining to the fact that Cuchulainn means, in our tongue, Chulainn's Hound. The boy killed the guard hound of the smithy Chulainn when it attacked him and he took the place of the dog while the pup of another hound could be reared. From then on, he was known as Cuchulainn."

Arturia was intrigued by what she heard. "How old is this champion? I have heard he is quite young and accomplished for his age."

"Aye, indeed he is," said Fergus, smiling faintly at Arturia for her interest, "He is… eh…" He started counting on his fingers as he mumbled to himself. "About fifteen I believe. We've been trying to get him to marry a woman, but he was being a bit stubborn about it. He finally pointed out the woman he wanted, and then suddenly announced that he was going off to see that warrior witch Sgatha to become better acquainted with the arts of war."

Arturia frowned. So this champion had found himself a woman he wished to marry already? The frown was enough to crack the chilly mask she usually wore, which gave both men a start. However, it was brief and she went back to her rather doll like gaze toward the head of the party.

Conochbar looked to his step father and snorted toward him. "Pardon me, m'lady, but I must go over to my wife's side and see how she fairs with her hawking." Then, he rode off.

Fergus watched the man ride off and sighed. "Please pardon the feud, your highness, for it is an old battle well fought between the both of us."

Arturia looked up to Fergus; gold eyes trained on him much like a lion. "An old feud? Family?"

"He is my step son, born to my ex-wife. She wanted him to be king instead of me, so she tricked me into letting him take the throne for a year so that his sons would be in line for the throne someday and I felt that it was a fine idea at the time. Then, she taught him how to be a good king for that year and the people ousted me." He shifted uncomfortably on his saddle and tugged at the ties of his cloak. "I tell you this since you ask, though I would not tell it to many, as most already know about it in Ulster."

Arturia watched the older man readjust himself once more. "You have a good heart," she said, "I see it in you. You wish the best for Ulster, for Ireland, but can not forget what was done."

Fergus looked at Arturia with mild surprise and then smiled. "You're very observant for a Christian."

Arturia's cheeks heated faintly at the praise and turned her head. "I was taught to observe all I see and take it into account; to see what others refuse to acknowledge. Even in a man, there can be seen many things that others will not."

Fergus watched her carefully, calculating the best response toward her. She was indeed a very intelligent woman and a very scary tactician. He could see the workings of her mind as she calculated each response she gave toward him. To go against her would be to go against a war machine like in the legends.

Fergus nodded toward Arturia, smiling faintly. "I'm sure if Cuchulainn met you, he would like you on the spot. He loves smart, spirited women. That is what I see in you, a small spark underneath that chilly exterior that he would love." With that, he bowed his head and rode off ahead of her.

Arturia watched Fergus ride and thought about his words. If she were to see Cuchulainn, the great hound of Ulster, would he be so keen on her? She would not be able to take him as her King, however, she realized, but she had a sudden very strong interest in meeting this boy. A boy who was as young as her and who was already so accomplished.

* * *

A caravan of riders was galloping toward the provinces of Camelot. Skeletal steel buildings could be seen on either side of the entrance toward Camelot. The snow was beginning to fall and the hunting horns were sounded, calling the end of the hunt. By the time the hunting group would come back to Camelot, safe and warm inside the castle, the caravan would be hitting the outside border wall of Camelot.

The caravan was made up of mostly dark skinned men and women, all of whom had their cloaks wrapped tightly around them and their heads covered save for their eyes to see. One rode on a gold plated carriage, drawn by the most beautiful white Arabian horses. The head of the group rode on a horse to keep a look out for anyone or anything suspicious, behind him were a couple of wagons with jugglers and musicians and acrobats, another carriage carried food and other things to keep the people of the caravan warm. A carriage not too far ahead of the gold plated carriage carried dancing ladies. Behind the gold carriage was a carriage with harem women for the troops and the man inside the golden carriage. Last was a cook, riding on his own with his kitchen inside the carriage behind him. Beasts strode alongside the horses, kept on chains; leopards and lions prowling and gnawing on their gold chains, wanting to get out of the cold weather as they strode beside the wagons and horses.

A pale hand reached through the curtains and touched the shoulder of the soldier guiding the white horses. "When will we be there?"

The man nodded toward the hand. "We will be there soon, my king."

"Very well," drawled a bored voice. "Such aweful weather. I hope to make this queen come with me soon. Not this day, but sometime soon when I have wooed her to my interest."

The man nodded and watched as the hand retreated back into the protection of the carriage. It was undoubtedly cold and the king inside the carriage was a temperamental sort, wanting the warmer temperatures of his home rather than this cold, freezing weather.

* * *

"We are receiving guests, your highness."

Arturia took off the gloves on her hands and looked to Merlin who was not far from her, looking out a window. "It looks like a group of the men from the middle east."

"Middle East?" she asked.

"Yes. As I recall, there was once a king that ruled over the land named Gilgamesh, though he was long before even the ancients' ancestors. It is said he is the father of red heads, because his hair was pale," he said as he watched the gold carriage come into view. "Gold like the armor he wore."

"Why bring up someone so old?" asked Arturia, now coming to her master's side.

"Because I'm feeling a strong energy coming from that gold plated carriage there." He nodded toward the carriage and frowned. "They say he was descended from the gods themselves."

Arturia looked to her master and frowned. "I believe I remember your teachings of this man."

"He disappeared one day, just poofed without a trace. I fear he may have come back." Merlin closed the curtain and walked toward the door. "They'll be coming in soon. Would you like to go out to greet them, or have them come in here?"

Arturia shook her head. "I will go set the maids to work making down beds for the people. As many as we can spare, at any rate. It is awfully rude of this man to come without sending word first." She mumbled to herself as she walked to find the head of her staff.

Meanwhile, Merlin set the head of her guards to go greet the king. Galain, the chief of Arturia's guard, rode out with his men and showed the way to the stables where they would attempt to house the many beasts that the golden king had brought with him. When that was set right, Arturia had come back to the main hall, looking a little harried as her hair was beginning to become a mess from the wind and the rush to find someone to help her get rooms ready for more guests.

The doors to the main hall opened and dancing girls twirled and ran toward the fire to get warm while they pulled off clothing. Their clothing caused Arturia to blush, being of sheer, but very ornate cloth that was covered in jewels that clinked together like little bells to enhance their dancing. They each seemed to flash and shimmer with the gems decorating their bodies. If Arturia had felt a bit scandalized by them, she would have found them to be pleasant to watch.

Next came in a group of musicians with a few acrobats who seemed to dance as much as the girls did. Soldiers clad in fur and strange clothes came in just before the door opened one last time to allow a man clad in a long red cloak to enter. He pulled the cloak off and the Arturia saw a rather tall man with a young face standing imperiously with his hands on his hips. His hair was slicked up in imposing spikes as his armor was bright gold and flashed much the same as his hair. This was indeed the golden king of Uruk.

He clapped his hands together and looked around. Indeed, if this man was descended from gods, she could see it in his eyes. They were an unnatural red color with pupils like that of a snake's or a cat's. Despite this, they were rather pretty, shining much like rubies in the firelight. She, however, found him contemptible with the way he spied her and grinned as though he knew he was going to win whatever battle was going to occur between them. "Greetings, my lady," he said, his voice deep and smooth, "I am Gilgamesh, king of Babylon. I have come because my messengers have told me Briton's new king was indeed a woman. I wished to greet and congratulate you myself, dear queen of Briton." He inclined his head and swept his arm out in what Arturia assumed to be a bow, but figured he didn't feel as though he should bow to anyone by the way he carried himself.

"Greetings, King Gilgamesh, you are unexpected. I would have preferred to have been sent word so I may give you better lodgings. As it stands, all I can offer are some humble rooms for you and your… guests." Her voice remained even, though betrayed a little of her genuine annoyance toward this arrogant man. Her face, however, stayed a mask of ice or stone.

Gilgamesh found her charming, if a bit chilly, like the weather. "Queen Arturia, is it? My, you are quite lovely for such a young queen, though a bit small."

Arturia's frown was instantaneous, though short lived as the mask broke only slightly in her extreme annoyance. A vein throbbed in her forehead as she walked closer to greet this foreign king. "My height has little to do with matters as they are. You are welcome to stay and have dinner with us, if you wish. My guests will be down soon to eat."

Gilgamesh brought Arturia's hand up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles as he bowed slightly to her. "The pleasure is mine, my lady Arturia."

Arturia's mask cracked a bit more and she very gently pulled her hand away from him, however, it was as though waves of anger could waft from her like a terrible breeze. "Please refrain from touching me, I do not like people touching me so familiarly when I have only just recently met them," she said in a calm, even tone that was as freezing cold as the weather outside. With that, she picked up her skirts and walked off toward the kitchen to inform the chef that more would need to be made for the extra guests.

Gilgamesh smirked faintly as he watched Arturia. She had a spark in her that intrigued him. She wished to be treated as a king, not a queen, for a queen would have been far more accommodating and charming. She had authority and was going to use it. He wanted to tame this queen who thought she could rule like a king. He wanted this queen to be his queen, for no other had challenged him so with so little to back herself with. True, she had guards, but she hadn't started building her soldier ranks. She had some from the previous king, but not nearly enough to even match against him or his men.

"So, little lioness, you think you can outmatch me, Gilgamesh, the king of all?" He chuckled and looked to his dancing girls. "I will charm her with my dancers, for they are lovely and would charm anyone into loving them." Indeed, the girls were beautiful, girls each with tanned skin, one with long black curls, another with auburn curls, another with deep, rich brown hair and another with bright red hair, much like the fire in the fireplace. The black haired one had eyes of the blackest onyx, the brunette with eyes of topaz, the auburn haired girl with eyes like emeralds and the fire haired girl with eyes like sapphires. He had hand picked them to be his dancers so that he might charm the harem and his soldiers.

With that last plot forming in his mind, he walked to a bench and sat down, frowning when he saw that the head was to be taken by Arturia. He found a seat next to her and smirked to himself at his genius. A frigid woman like Arturia would need to be warmed, thus he would give her as a gift his prized casks of drink. The wine he had procured when he sent his troops through France, now he was going to woo with that very wine, charm with the girls and entrance with his musicians. After all, who could not enjoy a king when the king was as fine as he?


	5. Chapter Four

_**A/N: And so we have the next chapter. Blah di blah di blah, usually I have something witty or at least something to say, but right now I've got nothing. Still coughing and sniffling, however. w**_

_**Chapter Four**_

The ale was passed out as well as spiced wine, using the French wine that King Gilgamesh had brought. He had changed since he first arrived, his people having warmed themselves well enough and he had taken a bath in his quarters before coming down. At the moment, he was now dressed down in something white and rather sheer with a heavy dark blue coat over it to keep him warm, though Arturia found his still rather exposed chest distracting. She knew that was his intention as he smirked at her every moment she even laid eyes on him. His hair was relaxed and fell in gold locks around his face and in his ruby like eyes. Red tattoos lined his chest as gold sparkled everywhere it could on his person. He was a very lavish king and relished in showing off how important and wealthy a lord he was. The exact opposite of what Arturia even wanted to associate with.

"You look a bit sour, my queen," said Gilgamesh in that low purr of his as he sipped his spiced wine.

"You look a bit underdressed," quipped Arturia, sending a chilly glare toward Gilgamesh. He didn't seem the slightest bit deterred.

"You have to be the chilliest woman I have ever met," he said, leaning back in his chair as his musicians came out. "How about I let my musicians play some music to entertain everyone."

"If that is your wish, you may do so. I do enjoy interesting music," said Arturia, though her doll like face did not once crack a smile.

Gilgamesh frowned and grunted as he settled in his chair, looking to musicians tuning up and the drummers testing their drums. Godric frowned at Gilgamesh as the king seemed to sprawl unseemly in his chair. Salazar, meanwhile, was watching Arturia with interest. Arturia noted this as she looked to the black haired man. "You are not Scottish nobles, are you?"

Merlin nearly choked on his wine when she said this. Arturia's gold eyes once again registered the motion and calculated its meaning in several different fashions. Salazar was most interested in this girl for this. "Oh, we're nobles of a sort. You sent us an invite and we came," he said with a low voice, seeming to rumble up from his chest like thunder.

Godric, on the other hand, whistled nonchalantly as he made Gilgamesh's chair tip backward. Gilgamesh spluttered as his wine went into his face before he hit the floor. "Who did that!!"

"Judging by the way you were sitting, my lord Gilgamesh, it was bound to happen," said Arturia as she sipped some water.

Gilgamesh growled and charged up to his room to change. Arturia smirked deviously as she watched the gold king march away angrily and kept a mental note to give Godric a gift of her gratitude later. Merlin, however, was rather amused by the display. A maidservant came in and cleaned up the wine before setting the chair right and going back to the kitchen. The musicians started to play and Arturia found the music odd, but pleasant.

Gilgamesh came down once more, dressed in the sheer white cloth wrapped around him a few times and a dark red coat on his shoulders. He sat down and a maidservant came out and served him more wine. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her over. "Don't serve me again. You stink."

The maidservant flushed scarlet and nodded before he let her go. Arturia watched her skitter back to the kitchens trying not to look too humiliated. She also noted the now very foul mood of the gold king and smirked in spite of herself. Watching such an arrogant peacock find his own downfalls was more amusing than the musicians. "Your cultural music is quite lovely. I'm growing very fond of it."

Gilgamesh looked slyly toward Arturia and she felt her skin prickle. She felt the severe need to take a bath from the way he roved over her with his eyes. "You say that I look underdressed and yet you wear such revealing attire?"

"The lady is suitably dressed, I feel," said Salazar as he eyed Gilgamesh coldly.

Gilgamesh frowned at him before looking back to Arturia. Indeed, Arturia's gown was high collared with the top piece, but the second top piece had a bodice that tied in the front and split down past her navel, revealing more than her fair share of skin to the chill. If she had not felt that it was at least covering her more still than his covered him, she might agree with him. "I am still covered, your highness."

"My name is Gilgamesh, Arturia. I would appreciate it if you said it."

Arturia flicked her eyes toward Gilgamesh and then returned to her water. "King Gilgamesh is allowing a foreign queen to say his name without anything before it to honor his status as king? Astonishing."

Gilgamesh growled a moment before he snapped his fingers. "Dancers!"

The four dancing girls that Arturia had seen before trailed in one by one, their gold finery jingling as they seemed to jog in on their brown toes. The musicians struck up another song and the girls began to dance.

Arturia watched the girls dance and was entranced by how beautiful they were. They each were like shining jewels in a treasure box. Fergus laughed and stood up and bowed to the girls as they danced, each one stopping to look at the old, handsome rogue. "You ladies are far too fine t'be following that lummox, but do continue! I wished only to say how beautiful you are this night!"

The girls giggled and crowded together as they murmured to each other. Gilgamesh growled and started to stand, but Arturia beat him to it. "Sit down, Mac Roich. Lord Gilgamesh wished to entertain us with his cultural delights and I would let him do so, for it is not disrupting anything. You, however, ARE."

Fergus looked to Arturia and smiled faintly toward her, a sort of charming grin that he usually held. The woman he traveled with frowned deeply toward him before he sat down. "Forgive me, your highness."

Arturia rather liked the older man, but she would not stand to have a fight break out in her hall while entertainment was trying to lighten everyone's mood. Gilgamesh, however, seemed to think her coming to his aid meant she was starting to accept him, for he gave her the most irritating smirk ever. Godric frowned at the gold king and looked like he was going to dump him again, but Helga stomped her foot on Godric's before he could do anything. Arturia saw the look of pain shoot across the lion like man's face as he whimpered to his wife. "Helga!"

"Shush, my foot slipped," she said softly.

The dancing girls went back to their dance and Arturia watched them glide and flit around with their colorful garments and jewels, jingling and jangling to the beat of the drums. Arturia began to feel sleepy from watching the girls dance. Gilgamesh smirked faintly to himself as he watched her eyes droop slightly. Merlin, however, stood up slightly. "My queen, if you are tired, I suggest you should go and rest in your room."

Arturia nodded. "You are right, Merlin. I shall do as you suggest."

Gilgamesh frowned at Merlin with severe dislike, but this gave Gilgamesh an opportunity. "If you wish, Arturia, I will help you to your room."

"NO."

Gilgamesh sat down with the sudden and very definite answer from the small woman in front of him. She turned slowly and fixed him with a steely gaze. "I will retire to my room. Should I be disturbed unexpectedly, I will not hesitate to use my sword to skewer the assailant." Then, she picked up her skirts and walked up the stairs.

Salazar looked to Gilgamesh and smirked faintly before finishing his wine. "Very nice wine, your highness. I am glad that you brought it for Queen Arturia."

Gilgamesh glared angrily at Salazar and stood up. "I am tired. I will go to my room now. Dancers! Do as you please!" With a flourish of his hand, he turned on his heel and marched up the stairs. However, he didn't go to his room, he went straight for Arturia's.

However, when he went for Arturia's room, he found that not even knocking politely and asking for entrance could get the door to budge. Gilgamesh had never been so angry in all his life! How dare such a woman defy him like this! Especially when he was being so generous with her!

He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers once. A sword was embedded in the door as if it materialized from no where. It had broken the lock on the door that he wished so much to enter through with the force it had shot out at it with. He opened the door carefully and walked in without even a notice that he was staring at the business end of a black and red blade, the red circles and lines pulsing faintly like a heartbeat in front of a very angry Arturia Pendragon.

"I said you didn't need to take me up and now you are intruding upon my quarters. If you do not leave, I will be forced to run you through. As you are a guest, I do wish to keep you in one piece." Her voice was strained, cold and angry, as though she was trying very desperately to keep her wits about her well enough to keep from killing him on the spot.

However, Gilgamesh didn't seem to register any of this. "Tch, do you honestly think you can harm me? A little girl such as yourself barely has the strength to carry that blade, much less do me damage."

Gilgamesh was surprised and more than a little worried when his ever ready shielding of blades intercepted her sword nearly slicing his ear off. He felt his cheek sting and knew she had nicked him well enough. "Ah.."

"You have been warned once, your highness," she spat at him, "I will not miss again, now that I know you have a net of magic around you like that."

"It is no net, I assure you, dear little girl," he said, his voice rumbling slightly in his chest as he crossed his arms over his chest. "But, you would have no idea what sort of magic I can use, would you. It is no magic, actually, but merely the use of dimensions at my disposal." He stepped to the side and disappeared entirely from view, causing Arturia to whip around with her blade, her hair down and getting in her face as she looked around frantically. "I told you that you couldn't possibly stand up to what I have, little girl."

Arturia managed to block an attack from beside her as Gilgamesh whipped a blade from no where and cut a lock of her hair from her head. She shot sideways and held her blade ready as she glared angrily at him. He smirked as he bent down and picked up the little bit of hair she awarded him. "Very soft hair you have, dear little queen. I don't wish to harm you, you know. I wish to take you as my wife, as I've never seen a more enchanting woman before."

The frozen mask fell into place as she gazed at the golden king. "So you did have a motive for coming, I see. I am glad I was correct, as I am glad that you came up. I do indeed need a king to marry, for nothing less would give my people more lands to use."

Gilgamesh grinned arrogantly and lowered his blade, ruffling his hair as he straightened up. "Well, now you see the good in my coming. Will you take the offer I so generously hand to you?"

Gilgamesh nearly had to dodge as the black blade broke into sections and whipped at him like a deadly chain. He stared at Arturia in disbelief as he watched the blade form back into a single sword. "You… what is that…?"

"I am the holder of Excalibur, the holy blade as well as the holy scabbard in which it stays when I have no need to use it," she said in a low voice, her gaze betraying nothing. "You have overstayed your welcome, **king of Babylon**. Leave now, or I will toss you and your people out **myself**."

Gilgamesh growled and pulled out another, stronger blade this time from his strange dimensional gate that Arturia still never saw a sign of. "You have no knights, no soldiers save what your predecessor left you! You won't win against me! I AM GILGAMESH! **KING OF ALL**!"

This time the sound of footsteps were running up the stairwell. Gilgamesh grunted and made the sword go back into the air behind him. He snarled and shot a glare at Arturia. "This isn't through, **woman**! Before I'm done with you, I will have you pregnant and chained to my side like a pet! I'll parade you through the streets of your own city on your hands and feet to show your people their prideful princess has been turned into **NOTHING**."

"Arturia!!"

"Your highness!"

Godric's voice could be heard as well as Salazar and Merlin as they ran up the steps. Gilgamesh chose that moment to open up another gate, but stopped when a thought occurred to him. He could simply steal the venomous bitch and they would never be able to find her as his people left with him.

As if Arturia were reading his thoughts, when he stepped into the gate and then came out next to her, she punched him on the nose and tried to run him through with her sword. He managed to dodge well enough, but failed to dodge the kick aimed at his groin. He groaned in pain as he doubled over. She raised her sword and swung it down at his head, but he moved away and dove into another of his gates, disappearing from her room entirely.

Godric made it in first. "Cub! Are you all right?"

Salazar muttered behind him. "Hatchling."

Merlin rolled his eyes and walked into the room past Godric. "Are you all right, Arturia?"

Arturia nodded and stood up straight, sheathing her sword into Avalon. "Make certain that all of Gilgamesh's men and women are gone from this castle. I do not want a single person of his troupe left within my walls. He has trespassed thoroughly on my authority and goodwill and it's time he leaves."

Merlin nodded and went to find Galain. Salazar watched Arturia with interest. "You look very harried, dear queen."

Arturia straightened her hair with her fingers and looked to Godric and Salazar. "Thank you for coming to my aid, gentlemen."

Godric grinned faintly and bowed. "A braver woman I've only met one rare occasions. You do yourself proud, m'lady." Then, he bowed with a flourish and left, looking very irritable. "I find that fiend, he'll feel the bite of my teeth and claws," he growled as he walked out.

"Not before I turn him into so many things he will never know what he used to be ever again," muttered Salazar. He looked to Arturia once again and bowed his head. "Rest well, hatchling." Then, he smoothly left Arturia in her room and walked down the staircase after his friend.

Arturia sat down on a chair in her room. It was a fine chair with a silk pillow set on the seat. If she hadn't been so angry, she might have been a bit fascinated with the texture of it, however, the golden king had crossed her too far and now the pillow was little more than something to throw. She tossed it with a vengeance for letting her guard down so far as to let him get the advantage in her room. He was also right about the fact that she had few soldiers.

In the morning, she would have to start asking of the nobles that had come if any of their men could be spared in Camelot's defense, or, if, indeed, any of them would be willing to become knights for her counsel and be the head soldiers in her army. She had seen a few practicing with the guardsmen in the snow earlier in the day, so she knew some had fighting skills.

* * *

Gilgamesh stewed over what happened in Arturia's room while his carriage rattled over the hills in the freezing cold. His men were not pleased to have to leave so soon into a frozen night like this and Gilgamesh was also in a sour mood. The dancing girls had become enchanted themselves by the men from Ireland and wanted to stay a while longer, but he had his head guard snarl them into their carriage so they could all leave as quickly as possible.

"My king, what happened to have us thrown out so fast?" asked the carriage driver.

Gilgamesh threw his cup at the curtains. "Don't speak to me, peasant! I'm in no mood!"

The driver grunted when the cup hit his head and moved to the other side of the bench so that he wouldn't get hit again. Gilgamesh kicked his small table over and through a few things around in his tantrum. "No woman refuses me! I will not let this insult slide!" He sat down in a huff and crossed his arms and legs in the silk pillows. "Mark my words, dear Queen of Briton, you will rue this day. You will and it will be because of me that you will," he hissed through clenched teeth.


	6. Chapter Five

_**A/N: aaaaaaaaaand another one. Lol Hope ya'll liked the last one. I loves the gold-pika. XD**_

_**Chapter Five**_

"That horrible, EVIL-"

"I can't believe such a rotten thing could occur with so many people here!"

"-no good, rotten cocked-"

"A woman! He tried to assault a woman! How dare he! Had I known, I'd have cut off his long john and kept it as a trophy!"

"-son of a whore!"

"ENOUGH!" Merlin's voice could be heard over the din created by the many male guests and some of the women as well. They quieted down, though the Irish were pretty angry still, especially the men, and especially Fergus Mac Roich of the men from Ireland. He had apparently grown fairly fond of the little queen since he came over to Camelot, as did Conochbar, though not to the extreme that Fergus did.

Godric waved his hands for everyone to look to him. They looked at him as though he'd just appeared there, even though he'd been there the entire time. "The little queen is in her room, at the moment, trying to get some rest. I think it would do us all a bit o' good if we actually did the same and reconvened in the morning when she could preside over this."

"For once, you actually think with your head, I see," said Salazar from behind him. "Hatchling."

"Cub."

"Boys…" Rowena came up and put a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Godric is right. We should deal with this in the morning when our heads have cooled and are not addled by wine and mead."

Salazar nodded and looked to Godric, who was turning a bit pink as Helga scratched his back with her long nails. Merlin leaned against the dining table and looked at the mess of men and women gathered. Conochbar came up to him and nodded to him in greeting. "Please tell us, is Queen Arturia all right? She is very small and I doubt such a small girl could handle fighting off that golden king."

"I am fine."

Everyone turned to see Arturia, a little disheveled, walking down the last of the stairs. "I will preside over these matters now."

Fergus grinned fondly as he watched Arturia toss off her maid servants and sit down in a large chair. The chair wasn't really that large, but Arturia was so small it seemed as though it was far larger than it was. "Little queen! The scoundrel didn't take anything away from you, did he?"

"If you are referring to my maidenhead; no, he did not. I would not have allowed him to, despite his best efforts," she said in a very matter of fact tone. She acted as though the whole affair had been a boring little discussion!

A few of the women looked a bit pink at her statement, however, they didn't feel it an inappropriate question to inquire given the ferocity of the man in question. Conochbar looked to Arturia and grinned faintly. "The little queen has claws."

Arturia twitched slightly at the word "little" and sat a little straighter in her chair. "I fail to see how my height comes into this," she said, her voice a little colder than before. Conochbar wanted to laugh, but felt he might lose his head were he to.

A welsh nobleman spoke up this time. "Your highness, it concerns us, because even if you have that sword, you are still a woman and much smaller than him. We simply worry you were assaulted and harmed in worse ways than most of us can imagine."

Arturia regarded the Welshman and nodded. "I thank you all for your concern, but it is unnecessary. I am quite capable of fighting against even a grand king of his ilk. I was taught from the age of seven how to fight by one of the best soldiers here, Galain, my chief guard, when even my own father didn't know of me or even care to know of me."

Galain nodded toward Arturia as he walked back in. "My men have escorted the lout past Camelot's borders. He's headed back to the ocean."

"Thank you, Galain." Arturia then turned to the people gathered and leaned back in her chair slightly, thinking. Then, she stood up and put a hand on the table beside her. "Peoples of Ireland, Scotland, Briton and Wales," she said, "I have need of soldiers to defend Briton against Gilgamesh, for I know he will be back once he gathers his troops in his home. He will be back, but we may have other people trying to attack our home as well. I would not like to have to defend it all myself, but I will if I must. If you have champions you feel you may spare to my ranks, I will be most indebted to you, as will Camelot. If you do not, that is fine. I will still have to journey to find me some head knights, the smartest and the bravest men our country and other countries have to offer, for I need a counsel to consult during times of war and battle."

Conochbar grinned faintly. "Aye! I will go home and find what I can spare to you! However, I suggest you look amongst your people first!"

"I agree, I plan to when the morning comes," said Arturia softly, "You never know what sort of gem you will find when you just glance over a bunch of rocks."

Godric smirked and winked at Salazar. "Cub."

Salazar rolled his eyes. "She has the mind of the old boy, all right, but not the same feel to her. She has more going inside her head than dear Arthur ever did. If anything, she might be a hatchling of the eagle sort." He gave a smooth glance toward his wife as Godric chuckled softly. Rowena pretended not to notice she was being spoken of. "Either way, she is a hatchling. Your 'cubs' don't have near as much smarts."

"I beg to differ, old man, but my cubs have among their ranks that lovely girl Hermione Granger and Minerva McGonagall. Both of which have become legends in what used to be our home," said Godric as he leaned back in his chair.

Salazar seemed to pretend he didn't hear his friend speak as he looked to Arturia again. "Hatchling. She is definitely a hatchling… and more dangerous than my other hatchling, Tom."

* * *

The next morning, Arturia gave a rather fond farewell to her guests. The people of the village seemed to come out just to watch them all leave; some offering up bread and cheese to them so that they would have extra should they lose their food on the trip back to their various homes. One girl gave Maeve, a queen of Connacht, which was a province on the west part of Ireland that had separated from the united country long ago, a bunch of paper flowers. When the queen eyed the flowers oddly, Merlin seemed to appear beside her horse and pat the girl on the shoulder. "Paper can be made here easily enough with the mills still working, my lady Maeve, however, flowers are not. As you can see, this land is frozen, only the trees have the roots strong enough to withstand the chill."

Maeve blinked and took the paper flowers into her hand, eyeing them still, but smiling at the girl who gave them to her. "They are nice, but if flowers do not grow here, then why is it she knows what they even look like, much less roses."

Merlin smiled faintly. "We have seen texts with the paintings in them, we have seen paintings with flowers in them on the walls of the castle, we have seen them, but we have not had the pleasure of them."

"I think I will enjoy these gifts," said Maeve as she looked down at the girl. "Thank you." With that, she kneed her horse and made to catch up to her husband.

Arturia, meanwhile, went about watching the young men and boys that were sent by their mothers to learn how to be soldiers. The young men were coming along nicely, the boys just as well. None of them, however, were yet fit to fight except the most senior of the young men. There was some time before Gilgamesh would bring his troops to Briton and attempt to invade, however, she didn't want to get caught with her skirts flipped. If anything, they would need to protect Camelot whilst she went abroad to find the very best men to be her knights.

Galain came up beside her as she marched across the snow covered field. "Your highness, how are you this morning?"

"I am fine, Galain, thank you for your concern. I trust you sent your men off with orders to give Gilgamesh and his men a fond farewell when you left them?" Arturia smirked faintly when Galain laughed. "Good, I don't wish him to be too comfortable when he so rudely infringed upon my person like that."

"Have you thought about the knights and pikemen and archers, m'lady?" asked Galain.

"As well as footsoldiers, though we have plenty of those. The pikemen, too, as they are foot soldiers, also. The archers we might have to ask of the northern villages for, as those need far more training."

"I have a group of lads who are fair shots," he said as he stroked his beard thoughtfully. "How much time do you think we have?"

"We are raising an army to fight against Gilgamesh, a king who is supposedly two-thirds god and from long before even the ancients were dreaming of their machines," she said. "I have read books of this Gilgamesh, chronicled by someone who had the use of a machine that could put page after page of writing without the need to keep inking the press for every page. If only we had that use now, we might be able to give everyone books instead of only allowing a small portion to access the library my father had set up for the people, though I doubt he even knew what he was allowing to be set up, for I doubt very seriously that he even knew what a book was."

"You still don't think highly of your father, do you lass," said Galain as he eyed Arturia from the corner of his vision.

"A man who would go to war simply because he lusted after a woman who was married to another man and then forget the child that would come of it is not likely a man who cares about anything other than his own desires. He reminds me much of the golden king we just shooed away like a horsefly."

Galain halted his pace and looked to Arturia as she stopped her walking, but didn't turn to look at him. "I know your assessment is correct, lass, but it still hurts to hear it. I served him and I felt I did aright to do so."

Arturia turned and gazed at Galain with that doll like face of hers for a moment before bowing her head slightly and walking off. Galain sighed and ruffled his graying hair. He had indeed taught the girl to fight when she was young. She was such a tiny thing when Merlin had told him to teach her that he thought she might break, but she proved that her heart was far stouter than any other he had come across. Despite the chilly mask she always wore, he knew that inside beat the heart of a warrior and a king of knights, like the legends of Arthur the once and future king spoke of. Though she was as calculating as her father, he knew she was far better off for her calculations rarely went far from the path she plotted to begin with.

* * *

"Oi!"

Cuchulainn had to duck when a spear was thrown at him. He looked to see it quivering in the ground behind him and stared at it for a moment before looking to Sgatha, the warrior witch of Skye. "Oi, either pay attention or don' take from me, hound!" snarled Sgatha. She was a most beautiful woman, eternally youthful do to the conditions for which she was cursed to stay on the island. Her skin was tanned slightly and her black hair was pulled back in a tight braid behind her head. She almost didn't even resemble the woman who she claimed was her sister, Aife, whose fiery hair and paler complexion were most appealing. He supposed that Sgatha's skin was because she enjoyed working in the sun most often than being inside with her spells.

"I would if you would let me!" said Cuchulainn, chuckled as he took hold of the spear and pulled it from the ground. "Looking at your hair makes me want to touch it."

Sgatha's cheeks darkened before she took the spear from him and moved away. "Just be glad I didn't kill you myself when you disobeyed my orders to stay inside when I went to fight my sister."

"The potion you forced on me was weak," said Cuchulainn, his face scrunching in disgust.

"It was a precaution to keep you inside, but it seems it was indeed too weak for you," she said before jabbing the spear at Cuchulainn and swinging it around on top of him before he had time to even blink.

Cuchulainn, however, was still far faster than she, blocking and knocking her flat on her back, though he ended up joining her when she kicked his knee. "GAH!"

Sgatha brushed herself off and sat up, eyeing him. "You're still too crafty for your own good," she said.

Cuchulainn smirked and put his hands behind his head, his blue tunic stretching just so over his lean torso. He had grown considerably since he had first arrived. His muscles had become more defined, though he still looked a bit stringy. His face still constantly split into a boyish grin that Sgatha felt he would never lose, even if he was old and gray. She doubted he would age the same as everyone around him, anyway, given his lineage. Demigods rarely looked the same as everyone else around them as time wore on.

"Listen, lad, I have need to teach you of a particular spear. It is the gae bolg, a terrible spear that you must cut out of your victim before you can retrieve it," she said as she stood up. She offered a hand to him and helped him up as he took it. "The wound it creates does not heal no matter if you use potions or spells on the wound to heal it. It is a cursed spear, but it is the best I can teach you to use."

Cuchulainn was already intrigued, his interest piquing more as she spoke on about the spear she was going to teach him to use. He watched her walk to a chest that he had never seen her open before and pulled out a long spear, longer than him, that was blood red with a barbed spear tip. She tossed it to him and nodded. "That is the gae bolg, the most dangerous weapon you could hope to learn to use. Ferdia won't even be taught it, for I don't see him using it as well as you. Your speed and agility are useful in using spears, far better than swords."

Cuchulainn held it in his hands and gazed at the red spear in awe. His friend Ferdia was not to learn how to use this spear? He felt a little bad that his friend, who he had met when he came to the boat to cross the lake to get to the island, was not going to learn the same things he did, but he also knew he might have need for this advantage later. He felt it in his bones that he might need to learn something far worse and more terrible to fight with than his friend, for something told him he would fight his friend later on in his life. The thought pained him sorely, causing his heart to break slightly, but he didn't let it get to him too much, for Sgatha was starting to give him a look that clearly called him various names.

"All right, Sgatha, teach me to use this spear," he said with a boyish grin toward his teacher.

* * *

Arturia rode on her horse north to Loganberry, a village north of Camelot and to the east a little. She traveled with Merlin and a few men to protect her as she went to the little village. There, she saw people living well enough, much like her own, in slightly colder climates than the ones she lived in. There was a machine in the middle of the village that looked like a moving box, though it was rusted and the muzzle of its main gun had long been dead. The cannon box car seemed to be rooted to the spot like a tree, though she saw that it was clearly chains holding it down lest someone try to steal it, or, indeed, use it.

"What is that cannon box car?" asked Arturia as they rode past the village to the big manor not far off.

"It is a tank. Men used these to go across land and destroy entire buildings. Even buildings like the ruins on the edge of Camelot's lands, though it would take far more shots to take those down," said Merlin.

Arturia frowned. If only she could have use of that tank! However, she knew it might not do any good against that golden king and his army. No, she needed men, and women if they were good enough, to fight for her.

"My history professor used to teach us many things of the past, as she was a part of it once long ago," said Merlin as he watched the people pass by to do whatever they were working on.

Arturia looked slowly toward her master. "Your history professor is an ancient?"

"Yes, she is," he said, smirking faintly at the look of disbelief on Arturia's face. "Magic has many wonderful and terrible qualities. My history professor doubled as an English teacher and a Literature teacher when she felt the lot of us were too unschooled to pass by her unscathed."

"She sounds like a formidable woman," said Arturia.

"Yes, she is."

"She's alive still?" Again, Arturia looked to her master with a severe look.

"Yes, as far as I know, she is still alive and living well with her husband Hohenheim." Merlin reined his horse closer toward Arturia as the guards moved behind them. The pair ahead of them was looking around to Merlin as though they wanted to listen to this more. He knew the secrecy of the magicians was still somewhat in order, though not as strictly ruled as it had been in the past as they were allowed to do some magic in the open, such as wizards in the employ of kings and nobles, or witches serving as nurses in villages. The healing arts had been all but lost to men, so the idea of the witches and wizards who knew healing far better than men did using what they could to give men the healing they needed when things went awry was a good thing, though that meant more witches and wizards had to be taught that before. That wasn't that big of a problem, however, since the war left mostly wizards and witches in the world to flourish.

"How could she live so long?" Arturia was clearly puzzled.

"A good number of the professors are either kin to the woman or friends of hers that have been with her since she was a young witch going to that school, Arturia. For three hundred years, she has been in that school with her dear friends from school living there as teachers as well. She used to be the headmaster at once time, too, you know. The headmaster now, I believe, is another ancient, who was around at least fifty years before my history professor was even thought of, before her parents were thought of!"

Merlin sighed and gave Arturia a small smile. He liked it when she tried to work things out on her own. "But I haven't answered the question yet, I know." He knew that look anywhere, it was the look of "You're dodging the question, master" that she would give him when he was prattling on too long and forgetting to actually answer. "Mrs. Malfoy-Elric is half human. Her lineage is a most unusual breed, as is that of her sister, who reigns over the position of Divination teacher like a dictator of a small country. They are both half… elf."

Arturia fixed Merlin with another of her rather blatantly cold stares, eyes narrowed and glaring at him. "Elves? Faeries?"

Merlin shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. "I have told you often that there are things men do not see that you can, correct? Why not faery folk? Why not mermaids and elves and dragons and gnomes? Why not unicorns?"

Arturia frowned faintly and turned around. "The priests say such things are not real, that they are simply stories told to children for fantasies, but they aren't real. However, they do not discount magic, but have been known to call it the work of the devil betimes."

"Do you think I am the work of the devil, Arturia?" Merlin watched Arturia carefully to see his answer. "You have seen things since you were small, Arturia. You have seen garden gnomes running about into rabbit holes, you have seen, at times, a little green elf like creature appear to me and give me a notice or give me something else. You haven't seen a unicorn, I must admit, though you have seen a centaur at one point in the forest outside of Camelot. They roam there to protect the forest from bad people. The trees, at least, grow there well enough, but everything else living there has all been frozen. The poor centaurs have been trying to find places where they might roam that is still green."

"Is it frozen at this school of yours?"

That was a question Merlin dreaded to answer. The truth was, Hogwarts was still forbidden territory for the non-magic people. The wards kept up around the village of New Hogsmeade and Gryffindor, which were on two sides of the school, were there to keep men from knowing that in that place, the seasons were not as frightful and green grew in the land. Life was there because of one man who had asked the Creator of All Things to give him that power temporarily so that they could save what they had tried to protect. "Yes," Merlin lied, though convincingly enough as Arturia turned around again. Well, technically, he didn't lie, as winter always came on time and froze the land, but spring and summer came and melted the ice of the chilly north Scotland lands.

The manor they were let into was that of one of the nobles Arturia had housed at her coronation. They were greeted pleasantly and allowed to stay for a night or two in order to scout out the prospects of the men the village had to offer. The nobleman in question was a good hearted man that Arturia rather liked, though he was very quiet.

Settling down into their rooms, Merlin was still bothered by Arturia before bed, much like when she was little. "Yes, Arturia?" He took off his cloak and sat in a plush chair by the fair, smiling with a boyish smile at his young pupil.

"Even is she is half human, as you say, master, how can she live for three hundred years? How many husbands has she had?" Arturia sat down in another chair opposite him and placed her hands in her lap.

"I think I recall asking her something about that once, actually. She told me that she theorized that if she were to just age normally, left alone without the many things that make her young again as she has in her life, she would live a good five hundred years before starting to age past the age of twenty. On her father's side of the family, they are very youthful looking anyway, but her mother is the one that is the elf." Merlin tapped his fingers together while he thought about his next answers carefully. "She has been married twice, as far as I know, and the one I know of is her second husband. Her first husband was a wizard from a pure line of wizards, named Malfoy. That is still a very prominent name in the wizard world, actually, as they are one of the few pure lines left after so many married men and women of the non-magic people. Her children from that husband are almost all dead, save two who were born after their father's death. Edan and Anna, they were named. Edan married the daughter of the headmaster's wife, from her previous marriage, and Anna went off into the world."

"However, there is one, actually, that I think is alive. Yes, I think I've seen her bobbing about before. She's insane, you see. I think it's partly because of the pure line of wizard blood in her, marrying your cousins does that to your children you see. However, she, as I recall, was also tormented as a child because she was the most susceptible to the tormenters when she was growing up. That one died by her mother's hand, I'm afraid, as she went and killed many many people."

"And her second husband is this Hohenheim Elric?" asked Arturia.

"Yes, that would be his name. He is the father of one of the former professors of the school, professor of Alchemy, and he also teaches the Alchemy class upon occasion as he is a most accomplished alchemist." Merlin sipped his water and thought. "He married my history teacher sometime after her first husband died…. At the hands of his own crazy daughter. He married her and they had a daughter who became an accomplished alchemist much like her brother and father. After her was a boy who could bend time as well as turn into a wolf."

"You mean he was a werewolf?" Arturia was very interested now.

"No, he's not a werewolf; he changes into a wolf on his own. He's done it all his life, since he was born." He sighed and rubbed his face. "Let's see if I can explain this." He sat up properly in his seat and looked Arturia in the eye, light blue to her pale gold. "Wolf, which is his name, was born with the ability to change into a wolf. This wasn't taught to him, which is what happens when most wizards wish to learn how to turn into animals, but he knew it instinctively." He thought for a moment and decided telling her about the blood was probably best.

"Everyone has magic in their blood, Arturia. From the lowliest peasant to kings themselves, they all have magic in their blood. It's where human intuition comes from; dreams come from it as well. Luck, also. However, for most humans, this magic level in their blood is very low. For wizards, it ranges to all kinds of levels, but for some, the level is almost so high that it is as though they were made from magic. The current headmaster of my old school is one of this sort. He was born from the purest wizard line possible, which gave him a good bit of insanity to live with, and he grew up to become a very powerful, DARK wizard. He split his soul seven times and then it all came together when he was stuck inside the… place where all human souls go to to be judged. However, his was not to be judged, his was to remain for as long as possible, for he was supposed to come back again when his soul was whole again. That creates some serious magic possiblities in the blood and makes even his SOUL magical. My history teacher is half human and half elf; this makes her blood line very powerful as well with magic, pretty well pure magic. She is currently married to a very accomplished alchemist whose blood line is also very powerful. When you mix blood like that, strange things occur in the children who are the result."

Merlin sat back and rubbed his head again, a headache coming on. "Wolf is the result of this strange, rather freakish accident occurring in the blood lines. Because of that, he has the weirdest ability to cause time to bend to his will as well as get allergies that cause him to sneeze and change everyone in one area into children. That is why everyone has lived so long, it is because they kept changing into children and teenagers and had to grow up again, over and over and over again."

Arturia raised her eyebrows, now very surprised. "And what of death?"

"He's her nephew." Merlin waved his hand at her, rubbing his temples. "Don't ask anymore, I am tired and we both need rest."

Arturia nodded. "Apologies, master," she said as she stood, "I will go to my room and leave you be."

Merlin nodded and leaned back in his chair a bit more. "I promise to tell you more tomorrow when there is time."

Arturia looked back and smiled the faintest smile possibly, though it was more than what she was used to smiling. "I will hold you to that, master." Then, she walked out and went to her room.

Merlin chuckled. Indeed, she would hold him to it.


	7. Chapter Six

_**A/N: I apologies profusely to those who ended up getting an insta-headache from the incredible amount of information I crammed into that last part of the last chapter. I knew that it might cause people some problems, but I had hoped it wouldn't, so, again, I'm sorry. And yes, it really is the crossover from hell, but not near as hectic as what came before all of this. That, all of that is just history. That is the culmination of about two or three years of role playing with my friend Amanda and doing at least two different alternate versions of the story. I'm trying not to fit ALL of that in there, but will come up is stuff that either will or won't make sense and I'll try to keep it all coherent, as that IS my job here. Since I'm the one that has to keep things coherent in the rp anyway, this is just normal for me, as Amanda's the one that has the crazier ideas, generally.**_

_**Anyway, again, I'm sorry for giving everyone a sudden headache from the too fast information download, and believe me, there's more to come, so try to put in a better processor for your brain, because this… may get a little worse. I don't know.**_

_**Chapter Six**_

Arturia went riding about the land of Loganberry watching men practice and work and fight, keeping her eyes peeled for anyone who would be a worthy man to fight in her army. She found a few archers from the Loganberry Manor's guard and asked if the Earl of Loganberry could send them to Camelot for extra training in the coming battle against Babylon's forces. He was, reluctantly, compliant, however she had to promise to send him a couple of barrels of ale for his fighting men, as the alewife had gone off for a much needed vacation. She agreed and started off with Merlin once more, though this time headed toward Wales.

"I hear tales of a one handed man who is excellent with an axe," said Merlin. Arturia nodded as she came up beside him in the small group.

"Yes, as did I. His name is Bedivere, as I recall," she said softly. Somehow, the feeling she came up with when she even spoke the name felt calming. "Why is it I feel as though I have enjoyed speaking that name before?"

Merlin watched his pupil for a moment and then looked ahead, wondering what he should say. "You recall the tales of King Arthur, correct? The king you were named after," that is.

"Yes, I have, and the sword I carry is the same as he carried, correct?" asked Arturia as she fingered the red jeweled hilt of Excalibur set at her back.

"Not exactly, not as I know it, anyway," he said softly before glancing at her, "Excalibur was said to be the unbeatable sword of promised victory, most of which of these tales came out of Wales. Not many remember the tales anymore, thus I doubt any will compare you to him, but… Arthur Pendragon was the king of knights, a man who was the most chivalrous, the most brave and the most generous of all men. His knights were handpicked, as most of his army was handpicked, and they were the best of the best as well. Excalibur, however, was supposedly a golden sword, shimmering and beautiful."

Arturia looked ahead as she heard this, feeling it all too familiar. "That is why Avalon was golden and pure," she said softly.

"Yes, that is why Avalon was so beautiful before it held Excalibur. I was afraid it would do that if Uther had put his tainted hands on it. I'm afraid that it was probably inevitable," said Merlin as he shifted in his saddle. "It is said that when he was mortally wounded, Bedivere, the closest of his knights to him, took Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake and then came back in time to watch nine sisters from the mists of Avalon come and take Arthur away. It was said he was to come back one day when his people needed him most, however… many times Briton has needed him greatly and he did not come."

"Am I Arthur?"

Merlin was hoping to avoid this conversation altogether, but that didn't seem likely. His pupil could pull information from a person just by fixing them with one of her famous glares. "I have suspected that since your birth, since even before your birth when Excalibur was given to me in order to help Uther vanquish a rather irresponsible king. It turned out that I did not really judge people as well as I had hoped."

Arturia frowned as he watched the guards in front of her. If she was Arthur reborn, what did that mean for her? Was she to repeat Arthur's mistakes as her own? Was she to live the way she wanted to when she was the great King in a woman's body? Indeed, strange things were occurring in this world outside of her own presence. A one handed man who was still as mighty and wise as they came with the same name as the one in the stories was beyond coincidence. Even still, Arturia wasn't about to give up on her people because she was uncertain as to what was happening in this strange world of hers.

"What was that you said about death?"

Merlin snorted and started laughing heartily. Arturia watched him in confusion before he started to calm down and explain. "Apologies, my queen, I did not realize you were still curious about my world like that."

"Of course I am, I don't see why I shouldn't be," she said as she huffed indignantly and looked away from her master.

Merlin chuckled at his pupil before settling on his saddle once again, his horse getting a bit irritated at his constant shifting. He stroked the old horse gently before thinking about how to start. "All right, first things first, you recall I said my history teacher had a sister?"

"Yes, I do."

"She's much like you, actually, iron will and all, though more cat like. She's the divination teacher, hand picks her students and teaches them the finer points of prophesy. However, the rest that she doesn't like, she tends to send to the secondary teacher, who's a bit less adept at the skill. You see, she's a seer, a true seer, not like those women in gauzy shalls that spend half their time reading their tea leaves trying to tell whether it looks like a wolf or a sun. Even I can't tell the future, but I can at least guess better than those old bats can." Merlin sighed and scratches his chin in thought. "Her abilities are quite phenomenal, actually, but I wouldn't want to be her or any of her children that get cause with this affliction. She sees through proximity. If you're near her, she can see things coming off of you like waves in the ocean. If you touch her, it is as though someone released floodgates into her mind. She feels, sees, IS whatever the person who touched her experienced and will experience in his life. It is a most phenomenal gift as well as a terrible curse upon a person."

"How does she live if this is her problem? How does this coincide with death? Why is it none of these people die?"

"All in good time, Arturia," said Merlin softly. "Her husband is the second son of my teacher's husband from a previous marriage prior to my teacher. This man is also a very accomplished Alchemist, however, he is not as into the practice of it as his brother and father are. That being said, again, with the mix of that strong of magic in the blood lines, you end up with very strange things occurring in the resulting children. One of their children came out a boy and this boy was like his mother, a seer. Sometimes it was so terrible that he would receive prophetical information and somehow burst it out to everyone in proximity to him in a great big wave. Everyone would see what he saw and then he would fall flat on his face, as I recall the phrasing that was used to describe this mess. This man grew up very isolated, and it was mostly his choice to be isolated, but he found that one day he knew he was something other than what his mother was."

"He was death?" Arturia was getting a little irritated with the long explanations, but she also wanted to know more about what was going on.

"Yes, he found out he was the incarnation of Death, personified," said Merlin. "You see, at the time he realized he was the personification of Death born on Earth, he also realized that at some point all the four horsemen of the apocalypse would be born on Earth like him. I don't know about the others, but he's the only one I know about being the personification of an act of nature, really."

Arturia thought on this for a little while as they rode over a bridge. The water in the river was frozen solid, as was everything else. "Be careful, your highness. It is very slippery," said one of the guards.

"Thank you," she said. She pulled the fur-lined cloak she liked to wear closer over her body and pulled the hood down a bit more over her face, her ears starting to get cold. "The school you went to must be a very extraordinary school, Merlin."

"Yes, it is. Godric and Salazar and their wives all created it first about thirteen hundred years ago." Merlin didn't need to look over at Arturia to see her head snap around like a child would have. He smirked faintly and tried not to look too amused by his pupil as she gawped at him.

"Those four are how old?!"

"You asked them if they were Scottish nobles, you suspected not and you were right. They are the four founders of my old school," he said with an amused grin.

Arturia huffed once again and looked away from Merlin, sulking in her saddle. "I can't believe you would keep such information from me!"

"I had to at the time. How do you think the men and women that came from everywhere in the islands would have reacted to four people who are probably older than anything they could have imagined?" Merlin chuckled and pulled his hood over his face a bit more. "The school is divided up into four houses; the children that come into the school get divided up into those four houses, which are named after the four founders." He held up his hand and popped a finger up as he named the four houses off. "Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Gryffindor for the brave and chivalrous at heart, Slytherin for the most ambitious, Hufflepuff for the most hardworking and generous, and Ravenclaw for the most clever and intelligent. Each of them had their own idea of what sort of child they wished to teach and they each decided that the children should be divided up this way so that they would be with people of the same heart as themselves. Each house is located in some part of the school, Gryffindor, my old house, is a tower on the east side of the school, I think."

"But why are they alive? And why did you invite them to my coronation?!"

"They're alive because they wished to be. That's all I know of it, Arturia." Merlin shrugged and scratched his chin again, thinking. "As for why I told them to come, I felt, since you are my student and, well, I feel you are almost like a daughter to me, that they would like to see one of their own become a queen." He smiled faintly toward Arturia as she slowly looked to him with a bit friendlier look on her face. "Yes, I do think of you as my own daughter, even if you don't think it sometimes. I've never had a child, but I would like to think of you as one, even if you do irritate me a great deal with your rather cold nature."

"I can not help the way I act, for it is who I am," said Arturia softly, a bit warmer in tone toward the older man. She really had no Earthly clue as to how old he was. They slowly entered a village near the Welsh border and found an inn to stay in for the night.

* * *

Aife glared at Cuchulainn from the window of his room. He stayed in the home of Sgatha, her sister, while he trained to use the Gae Bolg to the best of his ability; meanwhile, he had tricked her into becoming his lover. Not that she really complained much, but he was a **boy**, a **boy** far **younger** than **she** was and that made her a little uncomfortable. She turned away from his grinning face and looked out the window as she plaited her red hair. "What do you want, hound," she said harshly toward him.

"Now, really, Aife, is that how you greet me?" Cuchulainn's voice was smooth for his age, as though he was blessed with the gift of gab many times over. She suspected he used his tongue for an hour on the blasted blarney stone! He certainly knew how to use it!

"You are unwelcome at the moment, hound," she snapped, feeling very irritable from the many things stewing in her brain.

"You're as prickly as your sister is," he said, snorting slightly before he laid down on this stomach on the pallet given to him to sleep on. He smirked as he held himself up by his elbows and watched her. "Though, I like prickly. It's a bit of a challenge to work around, but I always did enjoy good challenges."

Aife's cheeks went pink and she turned to look at him. Her cheeks went even darker upon seeing his grin and his red eyes roving over her so boldly. "I should have told you to kill me," she said with a grunt.

Cuchulainn's grin faded and he watched Aife carefully, his dangling earrings clinking together softly as he moved. "Don't be so ready to die. You took the promise and I had hoped you would enjoy it. At least that's the impression I get when I enter you," he said, adding a bit of a deeper tone to his voice at the last as he looked over her once again. He was greeted by a bright flush through her cheeks and into her neckline.

She puffed her cheeks and threw a pillow at him, which happened to be the nearest thing to her at the time, huffing even more when he caught it and winked at her. "You are incorrigible!"

Cuchulainn laughed and rolled onto his back. "Aye, I am that, however, you agreed to my terms, therefore, you have to abide by them."

The boy was far too clever for his own good; that was for certain! Aife watched his arms as they went behind his head as he relaxed on the pallet. She gazed at the young body of his that had become more muscular under the tutelage of her sister. She could faintly feel the impression of his body against hers as he made love her her on that pallet. She could feel his hard muscles working as they both found pleasure in each other's arms over and over again. She shivered from these rampant impressions in her body and sat down on a stool next to her. She could **feel** the grin that was slowly spreading across Cuchulainn's face!

"Becoming a bit hot, my dear lover?" He smirked deviously as he leaned his head back and looked at Aife, his grin widening into a full out maniacal grin of pure evil intent. "I could make it worse by staying in this room, you know."

Aife threw another random object at Cuchulainn, this time a book of spells. He caught it deftly with one hand and let it drop onto the floor as he sat up in one single move. She was desperately clinging to what reality she knew when she watched him take his ponytail down and held out the tie to her. "Would you like me to put it back up again, or do you wish me to keep it down for a while?"

Aife looked from the tie and back to him for a couple of turns before realizing what he was asking. His hair up meant he was ready to work, his hair down meant he was ready to play. "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked," she muttered as she took the tie, "If ever there was a more hound like man, I've not seen one."

Cuchulainn took Aife's hand and pulled her against him, kissing her gently on her lips. He nibbled at her lower lip as she gasped softly at the feel of his teeth on her skin. He smirked and licked her tongue as it darted out before stroking her cheek with his gentle fingers. "I would say you fit the bill yourself, Aife," he said softly, gazing at her through his lashes.

Aife, in spite of her own irritation toward him, couldn't help but feel warm and maidenly in this boy's arms. Even if he was a boy, he was a skilled and admirable adversary whether it be on the battlefield or in bed. With that in mind, she submitted herself to the pallet beside them both, submitted herself to yet another round of passionate love making that this Hound of Ulster seemed to bring about with just his mere presence.

* * *

A young man, not too much older than Arturia, stood before her with a cloak on that hid both arms from view. He had long pale hair and a beautiful face, almost womanly in his beauty. "Are you Bedivere?"

"I am Bedwyr, aye," he said, his voice low and Arturia was certain that when he grew older that his voice would fair rumble from his chest much like Galain's or Godric's. "However, to you British, I am Bedivere," he added.

"Thank you, Bedivere. We have heard you are most accomplished on the battlefield even though you have only one hand. Is this true?" Arturia dismounted from her horse and walked toward the young man. He watched her with what seemed to be amazement. "Something the matter, Bedivere?"

"No, not as such," he said, his voice wavering slightly. "I have not seen a woman as small as you before, is all."

"My height does not need to be brought into this discussion," said Arturia, her voice suddenly very cold. Bedivere stiffened slightly and wondered if he shouldn't move away from her.

"Y-yes, those are truths, Queen of Briton." Bedivere stammered slightly under the chilly gaze of the small queen, though he did hold out his right hand. "I am one handed," he said, then, he brought out his other arm, where Arturia saw a stump where his left hand should be located. "I lost it defending our town from raiders."

Arturia walked back to her horse and pulled Excalibur from its scabbard and walked toward Bedivere. "Prove that you are worthy of such titles, Bedivere," she commanded.

Bedivere pulled out an axe and barely had a moment to defend himself before this small queen attacked him with all her might. It was as though he was being attacked by a small lioness, ready to claw his throat out with every motion of her body. She sprang back when he tossed her away from him and defended herself as he sprang forward with his axe, bringing it down on top of her and moved away as her great black sword swung at him. "Such a sword is too big for a woman of your size!" he called, trying to distract her long enough to get inside her defenses.

"Such comparisons should be kept OUT of a battle, Bedivere!" She growled and swung her blade at him once more, charging at him with incredible speed. Bedivere pulled away and parried the blade, attempting to remove it from her small hands, but found that he merely locked the axe and sword together.

"It seems—urgh!—that we are locked, my lady," he said as he attempted to free his beloved axe from her sword, but it seemed useless as she was doing the same with her black sword. "I have never seen a sword so black! What have you done to it to make it so and why?"

"It was this way when I got it," she grunted, pulling the blade up and whipping her sword from the axe, cutting Bedivere on his side. She watched him drop and came at him once more. He swung his axe up and hit her with the side of it. "You drew blood, now stop!"

"So you know I wasn't meaning to hurt you terribly?" Arturia rubbed the place where Bedivere's axe hit her and then walked back to her horse where she replaced the blade in its scabbard. "You are indeed as the rumors say, Bedivere. Please, join me as one of my knights, for I have need of men such as you in my personal counsel as well as riding beside me on the battlefield. A king from the middle east is coming to invade Briton and I have need of great fighting men to come to my aid."

Bedivere frowned as he held pressure on his wound. Merlin came forward and moved Bedivere's hand aside to administer a healing potion to the wound. Bedivere watched the man and then watched as the wound healed up under his very gaze! "You're a wizard?"

"Yes, I am that," said Merlin, smiling faintly before retreating to his horse, "I am also another of Arturia's counsel, though not of her fighting men."

"Will you join me, Bedivere?" Arturia held out her hand to him as she walked a few steps forward.

Bedivere walked toward her and kneeled down, taking he hand and kissing the seal upon her finger. "I will join you, Queen of Briton, though I doubt I am worthy to be a knight."

"We shall see, young Bedwyr," she said with a small, rare, smile, "we shall see."


	8. Chapter Seven

_**A/N: So the last chapter got some nice Cu action going. XD apologies to those who didn't realize that this might turn into a mature story. Since I'm not drawing it, I am pretty well free to go as my brain goes. Drawing a comic version would hinder this, I think, though drawing does give me time to think about what I want to do next rather than do stuff all in one go. Anyway…**_

_**XD all hail the hound. **_

_**Chapter Seven**_

Bedivere proved himself to be quite a good conversational companion, as he was quite knowledgeable and had a great deal of good sense. Arturia was kept quite occupied as they headed back North to talk to the men and women of Fernhill and then to Brimton. This left Merlin to listen to them as well to his own thoughts.

"Tell me of your problem, my queen, for I have not heard of what your trouble is that you would leave your castle to go looking for what might take years for you to accomplish," said Bedivere softly, his pretty face most pleasant as he gazed toward her.

"This whole country, yours, mine, the Scots, the Irish, will all be affected if I do not accomplish something to stem this problem we have to face," said Arturia, stroking the fur of her cloak in thought.

"How so?"

"We are being threatened with invasion and quite possibly annihilation." She plucked a knot from the fur and frowned at it as thought the conversation were of little more concern than the knot itself.

Bedivere briefly wondered what on earth he had signed himself up to before she spoke again. "My coronation brought my own countrymen, as well as men and women from the surrounding countries; yours included, I might add," she said softly, "However, it also brought uninvited guests, such as a king from the middle east who wished to charm me by flaunting everything he could offer me in front of everyone as entertainment and then pursued me to my chambers where he attempted to assault me and make me agree to be his wife."

"And he is the one that is invading?"

"Yes," said Arturia as she looked to Bedivere. "He will invade and attempt to take me as his prisoner and will most likely kill everything he can in our islands before pulling everyone he 'saved' to be slaves in his city. He loves nothing, save himself and his godhood and power."

Bedivere frowned and looked ahead with his pale blue eyes. Arturia watched him for a moment before looking to the stump on his left arm. "Why is it you do not get a prosthetic?"

Bedivere snapped from whatever he was thinking to look at Arturia in surprise. "Pardon?"

"Your hand. If you had lost it in a fight, or really anything to cause you to lose it, then you would be able to get it replaced, at least somewhat. A prosthetic hand would serve you well enough I'm sure, I've seen a few, though not in Camelot." Arturia didn't even seem to register the look of genuine confusion on Bedivere's face, though Merlin did. "What?"

Merlin raised a hand and shook his head. "Arturia, I believe not everyone in this country has seen what you have, dear girl," he said.

Arturia frowned. She knew she had seen someone, a man, once, long ago when she was a child, who had a prosthetic hand all of metal, like a gauntlet, who kept his hands hidden in white gloves when he visited with Merlin for some reason. She had asked the man why he wore such odd gloves when his right hand was metal and his left would need the best protection. Arturia barely remembered what the man looked like, but remembered he had gold eyes like her own and was also short like she was.

Arturia made a mental note to talk to Merlin when they made it to Fernhill, meanwhile, she was going to speak more to Bedivere about what she needed to do. Merlin sighed as he felt in his bones that he was not going to be left alone once again that night when they settled down in an inn at Fernhill.

"Why would this man come for you if you rejected him? I'm certain that if this king is as rich as you say he is, that he has plenty of prospects for a wife, or, really, many wives, if he should choose to have more than one. He would be able to pick and choose as he pleases and one rejection wouldn't really matter to him if he doesn't really care what you feel about it," said Bedivere, his confusion past.

"He has not said he will come back, rather, I know he will, because that is what I would do, were I wanting to truly vanquish some person who I disliked. He seemed to have his heart dead set on having me as his bride, though I hardly know why if he is that rich. Camelot and Briton all have little enough as it is. That was why I chose to take the sword from the stone in the first place, because I knew that it was the key to making sure my people had more to live with than what they have now." Arturia sighed and rubbed her forehead for a moment before continuing. "It is a game of chess. You plot your opponent's moves five to ten paces ahead to make certain you are the victor of the battle. I am thinking ahead. If he does not come, then I have accomplished building my army to the fullest I can in a matter of months, which is more than can be said for some people. If he does, then I will have accomplished building an army that will stand with me against his forces, though it might not be enough to fight him. That is the next problem I face, plotting that direction out completely."

"You are truly a remarkable woman, my queen," said Bedivere, his smile praising her as much as his words. "You constantly surprise me with your thinking. You are truly a good queen, though you don't seem it right on the off."

"How do I seem?"

Bedivere almost felt a cold shiver run down his spine at the simple question. The look she held was one of a completely doll like frozen mask as she inquired with a very chilly tone that made icicles form on his breath. What had he done to anger the queen so? "Ah, you don't have the air of a person who thinks like you do, erm—really you have a very cold air to you and you don't seem that worried about being in command."

"That is because I already have command." It wasn't a retort, it wasn't spat at him like a woman would have done, and it wasn't even said with a sneer; she simply spoke with the tone of someone saying the truth. Indeed, he knew she was right. She already had command of everyone around her; therefore, she didn't need to be worried about keeping it. Should she worry, she might make the confidence her people had in her waver.

"The king you say will invade, who is he?"

"Gilgamesh, the ancient king of Uruk. He is now the king of Babylon." Arturia had an odd look to her as she spoke the name, like one reciting a spell, her eyes half lidded and her mouth speaking the name slowly.

Bedivere felt the very marrow of his bones grow cold. "King of Babylon? That Gilgamesh? How can he be alive?! He was alive back even before the **ancient ones'** ancient **ancestors** were even **thought** of!"

"I know, Bedwyr." Again, the queen used his Welsh name rather than his British name. Bedivere wondered why she chose certain moments to call him so intimately by his own Welsh name, which he prized more than what the Britons called him.

"The king has come back and taken Babylon as his own once more, though I hardly know why when his tales always say he hated being the king of humans," she said softly, tapping the reigns in her hand. "If he came back to rule, he must therefore want to be worshipped like a god once more. As I recall, the heathens of the deserts in the Middle East do believe, at least, in one God, or they did when the ancients ruled the lands."

"They did, as I recall. I have read books on such subjects, curious to know what lies elsewhere in the world other than my own home." Bedivere smiled boyishly at Arturia and she felt a small blush filter into her cheeks, though the charming smile was not planned to be so charming. Perhaps that was why she found it so appealing.

"He is vain and will think that he will win against us," said Arturia, thinking carefully upon the golden king. "He doesn't know what I have and can get here quickly, should he choose to. He might not come here so quickly as a few months, but a year, perhaps, to make me feel safe in the thought that I had completely banished him from my homeland."

"You think like this all the time, my queen?" Bedivere was once again in awe of how fast and far ahead this little queen he joined thought about things. The possibilities were endless as to what the golden king of Babylon would do and yet, she still thought of them.

"Yes, I must, for I feel I do not have the time to think of anything else." She absently curled a lock of her pale hair around her gloved finger as she contemplated the possibilities. "A vain king would only look upon the surface of a pool and claim it perfect because it shimmers so perfectly, yet forget to check beneath to see if the life inside the pool was as perfect as the surface."

"Are you planning a falsity, my queen?" asked Bedivere.

"Perhaps," she said, "I have long wanted to bring the unfortunates that have been eternally cursed by the wasteland in the north of this continent to my home of Camelot. They should not be shunned simply because they look strange, but allowed to work if they are capable of doing so."

Bedivere brought his left arm up to his face and shielded his face as though he had smelled something awful. "Those people?! Their blood is fouled! Rotten to the last of them! How could you bring them in?!"

"Because the surface hardly ever shows the life beneath," said Arturia.

Bedivere frowned faintly and settled back in his saddle. "You know this from personal experience?"

"That is none of your concern, Bedivere." Arturia gazed at the road thoughtfully as she watched the snow drop from the hooves of the horses in front of her. "They are outcasts because of what is wrong in their blood. They can not breed with normal people, however, they can be allowed to live as they have been doing. The wasteland is not a place for people to live, it is a place of death, one of which that can not spring life no matter how long you wait. It has been waiting for nearly two or three hundred years for life to come back to it and it has not. Before, the land was uninhabitable because of the burning that had occurred there. The explosion of it cursed the land and incinerated everything it could. Then, it left behind something that changed the people that were close to the explosion. The people grew and lived in these tainted lands until they started having problems, then they started moving elsewhere, though the people outside of this on either side of the continent shunned them from their homes. The unfortunates then went back into the wasteland where they were at least welcome there. Most died in the land, though many managed to survive to breed more unfortunates. They are dying out and I wish to at least give them someplace to call home that isn't tainted by the rash acts of the ancient ones."

"What do you wish to—I see. I don't know why I didn't see it before, my queen, but I see why you want them so terribly in Camelot!" Bedivere spoke excitedly as he thought out loud the revelation that had occurred to him. "Camelot's lands are very large, am I correct?"

"Yes, they are, Bedwyr," she said softly, smiling faintly for once.

"Do you have ruins on the outskirts of your Camelot's lands?"

"Yes."

It all made sense to Bedivere now. While Arturia may have wanted the people there for some reason that seemed unknown to him, but he felt it was quite personal whatever it was, this queen did nothing without a purpose that was not completely for her own gain. She was very ambitious and clever, this queen, and quite extraordinary in that fact. She was finding a medium between her own wants and the wants of her people while still maintaining the creed "what do I get out of this?"

"You'll let the unfortunates live on the outskirts of your lands, in the ruins where they will be far more comfortable than they would should they continue to live in that desolate place, meanwhile, the invading army will have to go through the ruins just to reach Camelot from the direction of the ocean!" Bedivere watched the smile on Arturia's face remain as he spoke and grinned when he felt he found something right.

Arturia's smile fade as she looked ahead to Fernhill as they approached the outskirts. "A vain king only sees the surface and proclaims it perfect should he think that the surface was indeed perfect."

"And a vain king would feel something as awful looking as the unfortunates to be diseased and thus make him diseased should they come toward him," said Bedivere. Indeed, this queen had a mind he could feel very secure with. This was a queen worth serving. "I wish to serve you as a knight, my queen, should you feel that I am worthy."

"Then, we will see if you are truly worthy, good Bedwyr," she said, smiling faintly at him once more. Was she being cheeky? Bedivere found his new queen most entertaining and fascinating!

They found an inn to stay in Fernhill and started to bed down for the night, Merlin felt he nearly managed to have a night where he didn't have to give more exhausting explanations, but his hope was dashed when Arturia entered the room and sat down in front of the fireplace of his room with a very expectant look upon her doll like face. Indeed, she looked downright irritated.

"What is it you wish to know from me, my dear pupil? Wine?" Merlin poured himself a little wine as Arturia answered with a definite "No" at his back. He sighed and turned with his cup and walked over, sitting down across from her and sipping his wine carefully.

"I wish to know why it is that not everyone has those prosthetics. You told me that they were to replace limbs that had been lost in some injury to a person and were most widely used where that man came from. He spoke with an odd accent, I must say, but he still seemed as though he had been born of this country!"

Merlin cringed faintly at her tone as it became angrier at him. "Ah, yes, that man. You remember him?"

Arturia stiffened slightly. "Not that well, I admit, but I still remember a great deal about that arm of his that he showed me."

"And you have only seen a few people with these limbs in Camelot, correct? Mostly magicians or nurses, correct?" Merlin sipped his wine slowly as he watched her over his cup.

"Are you telling me that only the magicians have this product and no one else? That is simply unbelievable! Why would you keep something so helpful away from people who need it!"

Merlin waved his hand at Arturia in a motion to calm her down. "Calm down, Arturia, you'll wake the dead with that shriek of yours. Yes, I admit, mostly the magicians have these prosthetics for it was a magician's wife who brought it into this world in the first place. It stayed for a while in my school as a means to help children who were casualties in the various wars that occurred there off and on for at least a century. Not just children, actually, it was also adults who took the aid willingly. Also, mind you, the technology required for those limbs also requires of the nurse who makes them to have a fair knowledge of the nervous system of her patient, something that is not often taught to people. However, there are several who have learned a least a certain amount of it to be able to make and design the technology in question to be far more advanced and far better looking than what you saw as a child."

"You said there were wars at this school for nearly a century? Why?" Arturia leaned back in her chair slightly as she watched her teacher think over her question, or, rather, the answer to it.

Merlin frowned, as he didn't know quite how to answer it. It was really more than a century that wars had occurred at the school, however, he only spoke of the ones occurring during the time of the great Harry Potter when he was alive and before him when the headmaster was alive.

"Maybe I should start at the beginning," he said finally.

"Yes, I expect that would be a good start," said Arturia, her tone dripping with venom.

Merlin frowned at his pupil for being so disrespectful toward him before attempting to find a good spot to start. "There have always been good wizards and bad wizards, men and women both who have used magic for good and for evil. One wizard in particular had been born from a non-wizard man and a witch from a very inbred wizard line. This wizard was a little loose in his mental stability and felt that non-magicians were a plague on the planet and that wizards and witches were the true rulers of the land. This man also feared the fact that the human condition also means we grow old and die and he didn't want to die. He made it his life's ambition to make wizards the rulers of everything and on the side he found a way to make him immortal. This man split his soul into seven parts and hid them away in objects he coveted and treasured."

"How does one split their soul?"

"You commit cold blooded murder." Merlin watched Arturia now very carefully. "That is, you commit murder in a fashion that magically splits your soul and place the piece into something that will keep it safe. Commiting murder alone won't split your soul as men and women commit murder everyday. I'm not really sure of everything I tell you, as it's mostly speculation and the one who managed to do this never divulged anything to us students."

"The splitting of his soul made him less and less human and addled his rather brilliant mind. You see, as a whole person, he is very skilled and very clever and very intelligent. His mind is as sharp as yours, probably even sharper. I have never seen the like of him. He truly is a genius. However, he sacrificed that genius to become the thing he turned himself into. He was gathering support from the pure blood families for they have hated non-magic born magicians and the non-magic people for a long time, thinking them all to be dirty, much like you do the unfortunates living in the wasteland." Merlin sipped from his cup again and looked to the stony face of his pupil. "I shouldn't actually use that analogy for it isn't quite right. The unfortunates are tainted to their very core because of the land they live in, while non-magic folk are not tainted in their blood, but the pure bloods felt that was what was wrong with them, that their blood was dirty."

"I see," said Arturia, watching her master carefully. "What of this man and his following?"

"That man found out that there was supposedly a prophesy about his demise, that one day he would definitely die at the hands of a boy who would be born at the end of July. There were two born that year at the end of July and he picked one that seemed the most likely and went and killed the boy's entire family before attempting to kill him. However, he didn't manage to kill the boy, but, instead, sheered off another part of his soul and somehow shoved it into the boy without thinking. The boy grew up in a non-magic family for sixteen years, never knowing that was what was wrong with him. He went to the magic school with his peers and learned a great deal of magic spells and potions as did everyone else, meanwhile, that dark lord came cropping up again, trying to come back to finish what he had started. This boy fouled those plans over and over again until the dark lord managed to create a situation where the boy was forced to do things outside of what he knew."

"That boy, with his two closest friends, the great witch Hermione and the brave wizard Ronald, who I must say was like a knight to his friends, helped demolish the objects that the dark lord placed his soul in, meanwhile, his school friends rebelled against the school that was slowly tightening the dark lord's grip upon their windpipe. He had made it so that every witch or wizard had to submit themselves to a blood test, a lineage test to see if they were a true magician and not a false one born from a non-magic family. He made certain the school would only teach those subjects he felt proper, the dark arts especially."

"The dark arts?" Arturia frowned at this, wondering what Merlin meant.

"The dark arts are what the priests would say are the work of the devil. They are dark curses meant to harm people, meant to kill and curse and maim and torment all for the pleasure of the user. That was what the dark lord felt would be appropriate for the young witches and wizards to learn. The studies they might have learned before were demolished and all because he felt them to be inappropriate material for his brainwashing. Thankfully, most of the students were too wise to this, but unfortunately, the dark lord had kept his people inside the school as teachers to the students and the rebels were squashed one by one and forced into hiding. The great Neville Longbottom was the first of these. While no one even cared what he did most of the time, while everyone made fun of him for his inability to use a wand properly, he sprang up from such jeers and began to rally the children to his friend's aid, against the evil lord and his minions."

"There had been a war previously to the attack at the school, one that had killed several men and women, a pair of which turned out to be the mother and father of another student who was also quite capable in magic and who became the professor of alchemy at the age of seventeen, when she was legally an adult. This young woman also held a rather interesting secret. When the dark lord laid siege on the school the night Harry Potter and his friends came back to the school and started the great rebellion against the dark lord's forces, she helped fight in the battle the occurred inside and outside of the school. All the senior students fought, save the Slytherins, as most of them were either too cowardly or too caught up in their dark lord being ruler that they were shoved out of the battle and to a safe place where they could be watched. The great Minerva McGonagall then led portions of the students left into battle, brandishing her wand high and riding atop a desk she enchanted to move like a horse."

Merlin sipped from his wine and took a deep breath. He looked to his pupil and found her attention was squarely on him. He smirked. He always loved telling her tales, whether they were true or not, it did not matter. He enjoyed seeing the emotions cross her face, much like watching a child listen to a great story. "All hail the Scottish and the women they produce," he chuckled. He sipped the last of his wine and poured himself a little more before settling back in his chair again and stared at the dark liquid.

"And? What happened? Why was the girl you mentioned so important?" Arturia was getting impatient.

Merlin chuckled and sipped the wine a little to wet his throat and gazed at Arturia. "The woman I mentioned had a rather interesting secret, but I will get to that in a bit. You see, Arturia, because a part of the dark lord was inside Harry Potter, he needed to go and be rid of it. To kill himself. To sacrifice himself to for the love of the people he wished to protect. You see, love that strong will protect, cover the people he loves so much and keep them from harm, of any sort. So, he went to the place where the dark lord stayed, inside the forest next to the school, showed himself to the dark lord and let the dark lord kill him. This caused them both to fall, for a part of the dark lord himself had been killed in killing his adversary. When the dark lord woke, he thought his adversary was dead, even told one of the Malfoys to check on him and she claimed him dead, but she tricked him in exchange for the information that her family was still alive and they brandished him about in victory against the forces of good."

"However, in the battle that ensued when the school's defenders saw the damage done to their beloved hero, the hero showed himself to not be dead and proved that he was a master of all things, even over the dark lord himself. He told him that the people had the protection of his love now and that the dark lord could not harm them anymore and dueled the dark lord. The dark lord then was killed by a strange reaction. The wand he used had backfired his own killing curse back onto him, killing him instantly."

"Really?" Arturia frowned. "What about the woman?"

"The woman I mentioned had a very interesting secret. She held a gate inside her soul, a key to an in-between world that is not unlike the place where souls go to be judged. Because she had access to that gate, she could also see beyond that gate and into the in-between place of judgment which also has a gate connected to the gate of truth. She opened that gate and pulled the dark lord through it and then let whatever was inside it piece the portions of soul back into the dark lord and placed him at the gate of judgment, where he was to remain in a constant state. He didn't know who he was, why he was there, or even what he was supposed to be doing. He simply existed in that place as a soul, a body, with no place to go. The gate of judgment never opened for him and he simply stayed there until he was taken out of it through the gate of truth and placed back in our world. However, when this occurred, he had somehow been aged backwards to that of a teenager, when he had first killed, and started realizing what love was as he grew in the new world that he no longer knew of."

"That was before the great war that the non-magic people caused; that war that caused such places to exist as the wasteland and the people who live there. That war occurred a full century after the war against the dark lord Voldemort." Merlin took a sip from his wine and thought a moment, gathering what he was going to say next. "The next wars happened at the behest of new dark lords. One cropped up after the war against Voldemort, though this one was less terrifying and more irritating. He was clever, however, liked to have an alchemist create false humans to do his bidding. He managed to merge the newly emerged Voldemort into a false human shell of himself and forced him to kill that which he had grown to love and forced him to hurt that which he loved more than life itself. That dark lord was taken care of and then another dark lord cropped up a few decades later, though this one liked to use illusions as his main fighting technique. He liked to steal one of the school defenders and then use them against their loved ones as well. He controlled them through magic objects that he cursed to not come off of their bodies. Again, the newly emerged Voldemort was used against those he loved and his own sons had to fight him. His wife was dead and he had a daughter who had become the personification of Rage."

"Rage?"

Merlin nodded and sipped his wine. "Yes, Rage. Rage joined dark lord because he was very goodlooking and held her interest. He also wanted what she wanted, which was to torment the school defenders. Death's personification was her cousin, born from her mother's great uncle's loins. He loved Rage more than anything in the world and nearly let himself die from a broken heart when he knew that she had given herself to the new dark lord. However, his father encouraged him that he should speak his heart to the girl, in order to convince her that not all was made to make her unhappy in the world and so he went to her and confessed his love to her. That took Rage away from the new dark lord and he was forced to pull another away and that resulted in the personification of War. He was born from the loins of the brave Amber's grandfather, the young woman with the key to the gate of truth; her grandfather fathered the child in another brave woman, my history teacher. I told you once before, strange things occur when you mix strong magical bloodlines together."

"But what does this all have to do with those prosthetics?"

Merlin felt a headache coming on. He hated trying to explain all this and then realized what it must have been like to tell all of this to curious young minds. He felt sorry for pestering his history teacher so much in his youth and tried to come up with a good explaination. "You wished to know what I meant when I referred to wars for nearly a century, well, I meant for the first century that the war against Voldemort held. The second century held the other wars, so I suppose I should have been more specific."

"The prosthetics, hmmmm," Merlin muttered as he leaned back in his chair. "Amber's grandfather and grandmother and great grandfather and great uncle all came from another world. That world shoved out souls into our world when the two started merging together. It started slowly enough, only with her grandfather and his brother, her great uncle, then escalated with his wife at the time and his father. Then, his comrades' souls started coming from the world he came from and they were given bodies when a great upheaval of the underworld occurred. Most chose to live out their lives as best they could and so they lived like that with the school defenders. Anyway, her grandfather was the man you saw back when you first started living with me, Arturia. He was giving me information on the workings of the school since I couldn't come to inquire myself. His first wife, the mother of Amber's father, was the first automail engineer. She was actually, to be more precise, a doctor. She taught my teacher's great granddaughter about the craft and that great granddaughter in turn taught her own children who went out into the magic world and started teaching those who wanted to know the craft as well. This 'automail' then became a normal thing around the world of the magicians, but did not catch on except in those areas that held an automail expert in the non-magic villages."

"We do not have any such expert in Camelot," said Arturia.

"Which is why no one, but the very few magicians we have, have the prosthetics and thus why you shouldn't expect everyone you encounter who is missing a limb to have one. Also, they are dreadfully expensive, as it takes a lot of work to create these prosthetics and a lot of materials," said Merlin. "That was what that man had, full steel prosthetics that work from the electrical impulses that our nervous system creates."

"Electrical?" Arturia looked confused now. Merlin decided that then was a good place to stop.

"Yes, electrical, but I shan't explain that, as that would take a long time to explain and I grow weary and need bed." He stood up and placed his cup next to the small bottle of wine he brought with him. Arturia watched him from behind.

"Very well, master, I will retreat to my room." She stood and walked out, stopping just inside the doorframe to speak to him without turning to him. "However, I will inquire as to why such advances have not been given to us after so long later." Then, she walked out and left him to his thoughts.

Merlin frowned and sat on his bed, looking at the floor. Had he revealed too much to the rather ambitious queen? He worried she might try to infiltrate the school and take the people hostage until they give all of Briton what advances they had made for themselves since the great war had demolished a grand portion of humanity.


	9. Chapter Eight

_**A/N: Once again, I apologize for the extreme information download in the last chapter. I prefer doing these chapters late at night when no one else is on and my brain is running full blast, so that whatever comes out is coming out of the character and not me. I sort of let the reigns slip on the characters so they can get the chance to come out more than I do, but then I think that happens normally anyway. ; Anyway, I hope ya'll aren't getting so confused you hate this story. I really am trying to keep things not so confusing for everyone. Of course, I also have an odd sense of what is confusing, since I tend to figure things out a little quicker than those around me, but I'm not really all that normal anyway.**_

_**Blah, anyway, so here's the next chapter. Let's see how many other universes I can butcher, eh? laughs sorry.**_

_**Chapter Eight**_

Golden doors burst open and King Gilgamesh flounced in as servants and slaves alike ran about trying to serve their ruler. Gilgamesh waved them off as he pulled off garments and tossed them carelessly around the main hall and went straight to his throne. He sat upon it and glared out the open area in anger. The slaves and servants scurried to get out of his presence, trying not to be the unfortunate fool who dallied too long and earned the attention of the irate god king.

Gilgamesh's war counselor came over to his king, curious. "You sent word ahead that you wanted to speak with me, my king?"

"I have need to eradicate a nuisance from this miserable rock," he said as he ruffled his blonde hair into his eyes before returning to sulking in his throne.

"May I ask why, lord?" The war counselor was an old man, around when Gilgamesh's predecessor was ruling the land. The old man remembered what it had been like when the tribes had been lost in the desert sands trying to reform their lives. The king had appeared before them, wearing his signature golden armor and announced he was the rightful ruler of the land as their god king. He also remembered the god king standing in old palace in front of the old ruler wearing his gold armor and laughing at the face of the man before opening up strange gates behind him with a simple snap of his fingers, red light pouring out as the invisible gates opened and then suddenly everything went bright gold as weapons of every kind appeared in the air like they were floating through water. He remembered the old ruler shivering and shaking, backing into a corner like a coward, though the old general could hardly blame him, and then being pummeled by a rain of weapons. That was the last he had seen of his old ruler.

"A woman of an unusual sort refused my hand in marriage, so, I want to eradicate her entire people from the planet, right in front of her eyes as I steal her back to here and then chain her up in the harem for my use." Gilgamesh didn't even look at the old general; he simply stared ahead as he sulked.

"A woman, sire? Why should such a grand king have to resort to such tactics when there are plenty of capable breeding women to give my lord an heir," said the war counselor, bowing down to the golden haired man in front of him. He moved backward slightly when the man's red devil eyes snapped toward him.

"I have been gravely insulted and I wish to punish the bitch who has scorned me," said Gilgamesh.

"But why concern yourself with a foreigner when there are just as good breeding women around in the desert tribes? There are many women in our tribes people, many gorgeous, beyond beautiful women who come from grand stock and will bear sire very strong children. Most won't even ask what they might get from it, as they will be honored you even look upon them with lust." Again, the war counselor bowed down to his king so that he wouldn't anger the man even further. Those eyes alone made him believe the man was not natural.

The old general remembered the old ways, remembered the old traditions of his people, of their belief in one god, Allah, and his grand prophet Muhammad. That a man came in and completely turned everyone showed how little everyone truly believed in Allah. Now, they worshipped him as a god, for he was, indeed, some sort of creature in part. Rashid ibn Abd Quasai was no fool and knew what a mockery this made of his faith, but he kept silent in order to learn more and to find ways to be closer to the golden god king, as well as find some sort of weakness in him so he might better kill him.

"Stop talking down to me as though you were speaking to a young child, mongrel," growled Gilgamesh. He kicked the old man in the knee and watched him drop down. "I said I want to eradicate those people from the planet and I plan to do so. You will gather my army and come to the northern lands of Briton, Ireland, Wales and Scotland and you will help me or I will take great pleasure in ripping you apart in front of her wives and children before slaughtering them as well. Nothing will be left of your family."

The cold look of anger on Gilgamesh's face forced Rashid to take a humble stance and try to work with the angry god king. Oh if only he were younger! "My lord, I am afraid that I can not perform my duties as I used to, what with my advanced age. Please do not include me in this affair."

Gilgamesh picked the man up by his hair and pulled him up to his height, his grip like that of a vice. "You will participate, dear counselor, oh yes, you will. I will not leave such a sniveling coward behind to raise plots against my kinghood." At the look of surprise on Rashid's face, Gilgamesh smiled faintly and then tossed the man as though he were a ragdoll. "Don't think I haven't noticed you skulking about, Rashid. I did not rule for thousands upon thousands of years over you spineless worms and learned NOTHING!"

Rashid scrambled to his knees and watched in horror as Gilgamesh stood straight, crossing his arms and watching him imperiously. The look the blonde man had was the same one that he had when he forced his way in and killed the former ruler with his devil doors!

"Gate of Babylon," said the golden king, his voice low and rumbling thunderous through the great hall. The sound of gigantic doors being unlocked and opening echoed through the hall as servants and slaves hid away from the terrible sight. When the red light passed, Rashid saw the gold of the king's gate treasury, weapons upon weapons floating through the mysterious water of the gate. Silently, Rashid prayed to Allah to save him from this early death as Gilgamesh watched him smirking at the terror he instilled in his victim.

"I am the king of Babylon, Rashid. Remember that. Remember the feeling of an old memory, a ghost, appearing on your doorstep when I came back? Remember the marrow of your very bones feeling as though you had seen me before? That is because I ruled over you filthy people on this blasted rock for thousands upon thousands of years before any of your ancestors even knew what their cocks were used for! I ruled so long ago that the people I ruled were the **one** people, the entire world was **my** people and I ruled over them all and took all their hatred, their darkness and their filth onto my shoulders as a king should and bore all the weight for you stupid people!"

Rashid felt something white hot sear through his hand. He looked over and saw a sword sticking out of it, still quivering. Gilgamesh closed the gates and sat down, watching Rashid. "Do not underestimate my power, Rashid. Your worthless Allah won't save you or your family or your people should I choose to destroy every single person here." The sword disappeared and Rashid held his hand, pain now reaching his senses. He held it gingerly and covered it in his clothes to stem the bleeding.

"My lord, I beseech you, please! Give me some of your youth potion so I might fight better with my lord!" Rashid threw himself onto the floor at Gilgamesh's feet, hoping he could at least get out of being killed in battle should he go on some silly quest to kill every infidel in the northern islands. His ancestors had tried to do the same, though back then it had been different. The infidels back then mostly converted to the true faith instead of dying for their false one. These people were just to be slaughtered. For what? For defying a mad god king?

"You will have one drop, Rashid. One. It will heal that stupid hand of yours and age you back five years so you might fair better on the battle field. Five years is plenty for a filthy race such as yours." Rashid looked up in surprise as Gilgamesh held up a hand and a crystal phial appeared in it. The jeweled stopper was pulled out and Gilgamesh let a drop of the golden liquid fall into Rashid's waiting mouth. Instantly, Rashid felt his hand seal up and his body move better. Not much better, but at least he wasn't still on his knees now before the false god king.

Gilgamesh replaced the stopper and let it disappear behind him. Rashid frowned and wondered if the man had complete and total access to some hidden gate that he didn't so much as open as he did just put his hand in and feel about for things. Rashid bowed down to Gilgamesh's feet and stood again. "I will gather the men into an army, train the younger ones in fighting Englishmen and remind the older ones what it's like to kill one."

Gilgamesh looked to Rashid. "Who said English? I said Britons," said Gilgamesh.

Rashid silently cursed himself for his lack of care. The golden king leaned forward and watched Rashid as he sweated under his piercing gaze. "How much do you really remember, dear peasant? How much more do you know than the rest of your stupid race?"

"I… was once a historian of sorts for my previous lord. I was the 'rememberer' for the three tribes housed in these walls. My father before me was also a 'rememberer' for the three tribes and so on and so forth. You chose me as war counselor because I knew more about tactics than the real war counselor previous to me, though I continue to serve as my peoples' rememberer." Rashid bowed his head to the king once more to emphasize his loyalty toward Gilgamesh.

"What sort of things do you remember, rememberer?" said Gilgamesh, now interested.

Rashid had not been asked such a thing since he last served his previous ruler and had to think about it for a moment to recall something that might interest the highly distractible lord. "Briton was once known as England; Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England all made up the United Kingdom at one point. Before all this mess was prosperity beyond all in a great deal of the world, but our people were being called to jihad. We were to destroy the infidels who threatened us in America and in the United Kingdom and everywhere there were infidels to destroy or convert. After our defeat against the infidels, we were forced into another battle to survive the desert sands once more as our people did long ago."

Gilgamesh watched Rashid carefully and nodded as he listened. "Continue, please."

Rashid licked his lips and nodded. "Our people were forced to the desert sands because devil worshippers of a magic race were discovered. There were even some among us in our own tribes! It was intolerable that such people should exist among even those of us who were faithful to Allah! When they were discovered, the rulers of our countries sent bombs to rain on us to kill the devil worshippers who hid among us like rats. The other countries did the same, except America. In America, they seemed to talk the infidels there into being peacable with them, despite massive civil unrest among the peoples. However, in the United Kingdom, there they were destroyed entirely. They were hit right at the source with a great bomb that seared the sky and the land and tainted the water. Cities were destroyed entirely, made uninhabitable for anyone, much less the infidels and the devil worshippers. Then, we were forced to the sands and back to the lives we once led so very long ago when Muhammad was alive."

Gilgamesh smirked as he watched Rashid through his lashes. He stood up and walked toward the older man and leaned down toward him. "I think you will prove very useful to me, should you not betray me. Have you trained your sons to be rememberers as well?"

"Yes, I have, my lord. The share the knowledge as well, should I die," he said.

Gilgamesh smirked and nodded. "Very well, I will spare your family. You, as planned, shall join me on the journey to Briton where we shall dance upon the rotting corpses we leave in our wake."

Rashid bowed his head toward Gilgamesh. "Yes, my lord."

* * *

A tall young man stood in the manor of Cannick. His long red hair and fair face grinned impishly toward the little queen in front of him as she stared at him with those doll-like gold eyes of hers. "So you're my cousin?" he chuckled.

"I'm your aunt, actually, by Morgan my half sister." The young man grinned deviously and laughed. Arturia frowned as she watched him laugh at her. "Do I need to show some sort of proof?"

"You're just so small! My mother was never so tiny as you!" laughed the young man.

A vein in Arturia's brow twitched, though she kept her cold mask up well enough. "She doesn't have my father, I'm afraid, to contribute to her."

"So Uther Pendragon was short too?" The young man walked forward and leaned over his 'aunt' who he had deemed too tiny to be an aunt to him. "I am Gawain. I know why you come to Cannick. You wish to ask me to join you in your army!"

Arturia nodded. "I would be delighted to see one of my own kin fall in step beside me, Gawain," she said.

Gawain watched his tiny aunt and smiled faintly. "Aye, you do show signs of granny Igrane in you. All right, I will join you, cousin. Do I get the one handed fellow as a pet?"

Bedivere glared slightly at Gawain, uncertain as to whether the rather boisterous young man was joking or not. "I am also to prove myself to our queen that I am a worthy knight."

Gawain waved a hand about dismissively toward Bedivere and walked toward Arturia. "Oi, mum won't greet you, by the by, cousin, but I will. I've always heard that you were most extraordinary and wanted to meet you." Arturia gasped as Gawain's strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her up against him like one would a child.

"That's high enough, Gawain! Please!" gasped Arturia as she latched onto her nephew tightly, unable to feel the ground beneath her.

Gawain laughed and spun her around. "You're so light; I could do this all day long and never get tired!"

Merlin wondered whether he should interfere or not. On the one hand, he could justify it as his queen was being manhandled, but how did one explain that you interfered with a royal's reunion with a lost part of her family because she was being manhandled by her overgrown and overly energetic nephew?

Gawain laughed and put Arturia down onto her feet, steadying her with his hands on her shoulders as he grinned broadly at her. "Stay here for the night and I'll ride out with you in the morning, Arturia! I was unable to come to the coronation, but I hope you will tell me many things of what you are trying to accomplish and what started this whole battle!"

"What of your family?" Arturia was feeling dizzy from all the spinning, liking the weight of Gawain's large hands on her shoulders. It was a foreign feeling inside her that appreciated the gentleness with which he seemed to touch her. It was as though she really were family that he simply had not seen since Christmas.

"Mum is off with dad someplace else for a while. It's only me and my brothers for now. Come! Let us celebrate your coming here with a big dinner!" He pulled Arturia by her hand and led the way to the kitchen where he started directing the cooks. Merlin merely trailed behind them as Bedivere walked behind him looking a little uneasy being in the house.

That night, Arturia rested in a warm, soft bed that smelled of lavender. It had been so long since she had smelled a perfume in a bed and that she felt so comfortable sleeping with little care for what happened around her. Her sword was not far from her, a knife stayed under her pillow and Gawain and his brothers were not far from her door. For some reason, it felt as though she was actually welcome. It made her feel happy inside and for once, she slept with little care.


	10. Chapter Nine

_**A/N: So I made a new necklace. It has a shell disc with a carved spiral design in it like that of the Air Benders. . **_

_**Chapter Nine**_

The days stretched on as Arturia rode north toward the wasteland. Gawain's brother Agravaine and Gaheris joined them on the quest to the north, though a bit reluctantly to leave their home to their brother Gareth to watch the home. Gawain seemed content with entertaining Arturia with tales of his life with her sister Morgan as his mother and his brothers. As they rode along, Gawain starting to sing a tale as Gaheris joined in, enjoying his brother's fun. Arturia, meanwhile, felt like a child among a bunch of giants. They were all so much taller than her!

Merlin rode ahead when he felt something, a barrier of sorts stretched out as far as the eye could see, though he was certain the only other person who could possibly see it was Arturia. Merlin got off his horse and walked along the edge of the barrier, his staff making marks in the ground. It was dirt he was standing on, not snow. The snow wasn't falling around the area, but the sky was still gray.

Arturia dismounted from her horse and let the reigns drop to the ground before walking to Merlin's side. As far as the eye could see, there was a strange discoloration in front of her. Merlin put his hand to the barrier and jerked it back as though he had been stung. "Deffinitely the work of wizards. A very powerful one at that. Most likely either Professor Donovan or Professor Riddle. Both are excellent in magic, though Professor Riddle is most likely."

Arturia frowned and touched the barrier, pulling her hand back when a shock went through her arm. "Why would they put a barrier around the wasteland when people who could leave are still inside?"

"It's not a matter of keeping people from coming out of the waste, Arturia. It's a matter of keeping other from coming in." Merlin's staff crystals glowed as he moved it toward the barrier.

"What's going on, cousin!" called Gawain. Bedivere and Gawain were dismounting when Arturia turned to them.

"Stay on your horses, Bedivere, Gawain! Merlin is sensing something and needs to work with it before we may pass into this forbidden land!"

Gawain frowned and looked to Bedivere. "I don't like this, Bedwyr. It reeks of a foul plot."

Bedivere nodded and put a hand on his axe and looked to the little queen and her wizard. "We should keep an eye out, Gawain."

"Aye, we should. Brothers, spread out slightly, keep an eye out for a possible ambush. Something doesn't feel right about this," said Gawain to his brothers Gaheris and Agravaine. Agravaine and Gaheris nodded and moved out on either side of the group as the guards kept watch over their charge, the queen of Briton.

Merlin kept tapping the barrier with his staff until he moved back from it. "Arturia, move away from the barrier. I want to try something. It'll take using my old wand, however."

"Wand? I thought your staff was your magical instrument," said Arturia.

"It is only one of two things I use to amplify and focus my magic. I can use my hands to control my magic, but it is a lot harder, Arturia." Merlin pulled out a foot long stick with a strange carved handle to it and swished it around for a couple of times. He smiled when a strange spit of blue sparks came from the wand's tip. "I can't eliminate the barrier, for I can't replace it, however, I can…. make a hole large enough for us to go through." He started using his wand to write symbols into the air in front of him and closed his eyes as he sent it straight at the barrier. The barrier shimmered and a hole opened to the desert like area that stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance, they saw the mountains and lakes of Scotland beyond. Inside the desert, Arturia saw what looked to be the ruins of a castle and buildings of the same steel construction as the ruins near her home. Everywhere she looked, she saw steel ruins and old homes that were run down and forgotten; homes over grown with ivy and shrubs. Had the Britons, nay, all of the islands, been so vastly populated that what the war caused was a near extinction of the human race? Were the wizards the ones that protected such foolhardy humans from completely annihilating themselves or were they also contributing to it?

Arturia mounted her steed and started for the hole Merlin had made for them. Gawain called for his brothers as Bedivere followed after Merlin and Arturia, the guards falling in line.

The air was dry, devoid of any form of water, and very hot. The clouds ended at the edge of the desert and started back up toward Scotland. As they rode through the sand, they headed for the ruins of the old castle. "What is that, Merlin? Whose castle was it?"

"That? Eh… I believe that is Hermitage Castle, actually," said Merlin as he looked the castle over. "It would be about right since we went through the ruins of Carlisle."

"How could anyone live in this place? It's so dry and nothing is growing!" Gawain came up beside Arturia and looked around, his long red hair whipping about in its ponytail.

Just then, people started filtering out from inside the ruined castle. Bedivere put a hand up to his mouth in revulsion, Gawain leaned closer toward Arturia as the guards moved out in front of everyone. Merlin watched the people with a small amount of pity as the people crawled out of their hiding places inside the dark castle ruins. They were an odd assortment of monstrosities, though some looked normal, but underfed. The ones that looked normal approached the group holding crude swords and looked ready to fight if they had to. Arturia didn't watch them, however, she watched the creatures moving behind the normal looking ones with an impassive gaze. The creatures all looked so very alien to her; some were hairless all over and very pale, another was very tall and dressed in a child's smock that was torn, her body overgrown in every aspect as though her body were trying to make itself look like a troll, another had small duck feet and legs while the rest of his body was normal. There was a normal woman carrying what looked to be an overgrown baby, but the child didn't look quite right. His head was far too large for his body, part of it protruding out from the skull, his eyes small in comparison and rolled toward the sky as his mouth hung open. His body was rail thin, the muscles all but vanished and leaving him nothing but bone underneath his skin. He was little more than a skeleton with a very large head.

"What do you want," cried one of the normal men. His eyes were odd, one looking larger than the other and had two pupils merged together inside of it. The other eye was normal looking, but both were narrowed angrily at Arturia and her group.

"We come in peace," said Arturia as she moved her horse forward.

There was a low murmur among the people as more came out from hiding, mostly women and children. An older man came forward, his hair all gone and spots covered him from head to foot like that of a cow. "No one comes into the wastelands and lives. No one comes into the wastelands and comes for no reason, but to antagonize us!"

Arturia shook her head. "I have come to seek you out. Most can not come through the barrier protecting this place, however, if you wish, you are free to leave it. I have come to ask you if you would wish to live in a little more hospitable place. My home is far south, it will be a long journey, but we will protect you and keep you safe from the cold wind and keep you fed. In my home, you will have buildings like these to live in, for I fear the people of my home will not be so kind toward you, but I will pass a decree that will allow you to work and earn pay so long as you are able."

Again, the people looked to each other and murmured. The woman with the skeletal child in her arms came forward. "Why would you be willing to let us live among you? Aren't you afraid we will taint the soil and the water, the animals and the people? What is it we must do in return for living in a place that won't be much different from where we are now?"

"You will have my protection so long as you work to earn your keep. Those that are unable will have to file with me so I might have the church give charity toward your family. Those able to work will be self sufficient enough." Arturia gazed directly at the woman and found the woman defiant toward her. "I know what it is like to be uncared for, what it is like to be unwanted. This land is not fit for anyone to live in, even those who were here when the great war started and ended. It is cursed, branded by those who killed it so long ago. You will not live much longer in this place, your people are slowly dying out. By the end of this decade, you will all have died out, being unable to reproduce as much as it would take to live in this place. There is no water here, no growth, no animals, nothing. You have to move in and out of the land just to find something to eat."

The woman nuzzled her child's forehead and Arturia watched it respond by doing the same. "But what do you get out of us coming with you?"

"Nothing." Arturia watched the woman stare at her in surprise. "I get able workers to work the harsh land and the sense that someone else is being well cared for in my kingdom."

"Kingdom? Who are you?" asked the older man with the spots.

"Who is she? She is the queen of Briton! The holder of the kingsword Excalibur!" cried Gawain. His brothers Agravaine and Gaheris let out a few "Huzzahs" toward Arturia, grinning toward one another.

The guardsmen nodded and the wasteland villagers muttered to one another as they gazed at Arturia. "How can we believe you? How can we trust you will do what you say when we reach your land!?" said one of the boys as he came forward.

"You don't," said Arturia. The boy seemed to move away at this response, shocked at her quick reply. "You have nothing other than my word as queen of Briton that I will make certain you are well cared for."

Women shouted as did some of the deformed creatures. It was a cacophony of noise as people still filtered out of the old ruined castle.

"What have we got to lose?!"

"My babies need better food, better shelter! This place is too harsh for them!"

"I want to go where it isn't so hot anymore!"

The old man with the spots all over his body bowed his head and raised his hand to silence the people. Apparently, he was their leader or chief. "We will follow you. You can no stay in here overlong or else the sand will hurt you. As we said, no one enters here and lives."

"We will wait outside of the barrier for your people to come through. We do not have much with us now, but in Fenrill we will purchase extra food and water and clothing for you. Please pack light. Also, is this all of you in this desert or are there more?"

"This is all that I know of. I know of one woman who came into the wasteland and tried to cross it before she found the tribe long ago, but she died in childbirth. It was long before my great great great grandfather was birthed, but that was one of the only visitors from the north we have had since the waste was created. Mostly, we get people who manage to come through the south gate who raid us quickly, before leaving."

A woman was that heavy with child and she had attempted to cross this desert? Arturia wondered why someone would attempt something so brutal and futile. She knew that there were ways south from Scotland that required the traveler to travel over water to get around the wasteland that isolated Scotland from the rest of Briton so.

The people of the wasteland retreated back into the ruined castle as Arturia and her group went back through the barrier. There, they got off their horses and waited for the travelers to come to them from the sun heated land.

* * *

Gilgamesh threw his plate at the messenger boy who gave him the parchment that held information from his spies that Arturia was off gathering men to build an army. That woman planned to resist him further?!

"Such insolence! I will not tolerate it!" snarled Gilgamesh as he stood. One of Gilgamesh's servants came over to clean up the mess the food on the plate had created on the floor. Gilgamesh stalked away, now in a foul mood. "RASHID! RASHID! COME TO ME NOW!"

Rashid, in his armor, jogged from his place at the war room where he was briefing several men on tactics. "Yes, my lord?"

"Gather the men and fast. Tell the boats to load up as many as they can hold. We are going to Briton now." With that, Gilgamesh stalked off once more, growling.

Rashid watched the heathen god king walk away. One of his subordinates came up to his side and handed him a knife. Rashid checked it and saw the bit of green on the blade that meant it had been poisoned. "God be with you, boy," he said before nodding to his subordinate and walking off. His plan to kill the false god king and rid his countrymen of such evil was coming together well enough. He still needed to be quiet and appear as though he were completely and wholly subservient to the madman, for he feared for the lives of his family; his sisters and brothers, his daughters and sons, his brother's wives and his sister's husbands, their children and the life of his own wives. He feared for them all that the false god king would do exactly as he said and kill every single one of his family, fully ending his entire blood line from existence.

A woman came walking by, her clothing that of one of the concubines given to Gilgamesh from a foreign land as payment for keeping peace between their lands. She was of the orient, her eyes of gold and her hair as black as pitch. Her face was slightly pointed, but fair, hair pulled up in a rather odd hair style. While he watched her pass him, he wondered what would come of the foreigner when the kingdom found that their king was dead. Would she be sent back home? He would probably die in the act of killing Gilgamesh, though he hoped he would not. He also doubted the girl would be sent back, as she looked very youthful and fresh, though she was thinner than the women of better stock.

With that last thought, Rashid made his way down the hallway to do as his false king bid.

* * *

The people came forth through the southern gate and Arturia's group mounted their horses, taking up those who could not walk on their own onto the saddle with them before starting off. Arturia held the skeletal child in the crook of her arm, hidden underneath the fur of her cloak as she kept pulling it around them both. He would stare at her and the sky both, making odd noises in his throat as they rode along toward the Carlisle ruins. It would take them all day to get to the nearest town, but Arturia followed through with her promise to feed and clothe the people she led toward Camelot.

When they reached Fenrill, there they bedded down for the night. In the morning, they set out for Camelot once again and went to Helmsley, which was another day's journey. Arturia carefully instructed her guards and her nephews and Bedivere to make certain they kept away from the manors of her nobles, so the people who traveled with them would forget that she was indeed their queen whilst they journeyed south. Bedivere saw the wisdom in the move, though Gawain found it to be suspicious. However, he obeyed his aunt and only asked if they might return to Cannick where he might check his brother Gareth to see if he were all right. Agravaine and Gaheris both also agreed that they wished to see their brother, so Arturia complied.

It took a week and a half to reach Cannick. The people were tired of walking and never staying put someplace for more than a night's rest, however, she told them that it was indeed nessescary for their journey to be swift toward Camelot, where she grew more anxious to see the deep gray stone walls of her castle and the blackened walls surrounding the keep. Time grew short and everyday she felt the time for Gilgamesh to make his move grow nearer. The old, spotted man saw how much colder she became and took note of it.

"You are anxious to be home, ma'am?" he asked.

"Yes, I wish to know how my ranks have built up. I have never been so far from home for so long before," she said. The man frowned, not sure what to think of her answer.

When they reached Cannick, Gawain nearly jumped from his saddle to the doorstep with delight. Agravaine rolled his eyes and Gaheris chuckled. Arturia found her nephews rather amusing, though she barely showed it. She had never seen such energy in a young man before until she met Gawain. Agravaine was far more mature and suspicious of her actions. Gaheris was somewhere in between and it was difficult to tell where his thoughts lie.

However, when she entered Cannick manor, she found the dark haired head of her sister Morgan. Her sister stood up and walked toward her from the bench she had been sitting on. "Arturia? Gawain! Gaheris! Agravaine! Why has this woman come into my home?"

Gawain was the first come over, his red hair down about his shoulders and messy. "Mum! Arturia came before while you were away with father and asked me if I would join her as one of her knights. I have decided to go, as have Agravaine and Gaheris. Gareth wished to go, but we told him he needed to stay."

Morgan slapped Gawain and shoved him away from Arturia before she rounded on Arturia herself. She raised a hand toward her half-sister, but stopped, glaring at Arturia with wild eyes. Merlin had his hand up and glared at the dark haired woman as she looked to him. "So you are a witch?" he said, frowning more.

"What if I am!" she spat. She moved away and rubbed her hand. "You aren't welcome here either, wizard!"

Arturia had a strange look on hr face, one that directly contradicted the usual frozen mask she wore. It was frightened and paler than usual as she looked at her taller half-sister. Merlin saw the look on her face and frowned even more deeply, if it were possible. He was now very angry with the woman for being so cruel toward her own kin.

"You sent that animal into my mother's room, you disguised him to look like father and then you let him have his way with her so that she would give birth to this abomination!" Morgan snarled and raved much like an animal herself.

"Morgan?"

For the first time since she had arrived, Arturia spoke aloud. Bedivere came forward and stood in front of Arturia, Gawain following suit, his cheek red and bleeding from his mother's nails clawing him when she slapped him. Morgan looked to Arturia with an imperious glare. "So you've managed to turn my son against me? Fine. Go back out into the night! Leave Cannick or I will make you all leave myself!"

"Is there something the matter, Morgan?"

Morgan's husband Lot came down the stairs and smiled faintly at his wife before seeing Arturia. He stared for a moment and looked back to Morgan. "What is going on? Who is this girl and why is our son standing in front of her with such anger on his fair face?"

Morgan seemed to immediately change her demeanor. She smiled lovingly toward her husband and motioned toward Arturia. "She is…. My half sister."

For the first time since Lot arrived on the scene, Arturia seemed to snap out of the strange behavior she had been displaying. "I am Arturia Pendragon, Queen of this land."

Lot hurried over and took Arturia's hand and bowed down low, kissing her signet ring. "My queen! Had I known you were coming here, I would have prepared for your arrival."

"It is fine. I am only staying a night before I head out back to Camelot. I bring people with me that wished to live on my lands for protection."

Lot nodded and stood. "Morgan, see that your sister may be well cared for within our walls. As for the people who you are granting your protection to, they will find protection here as well. Where are they from?"

"Further north, where it was far too inhospitable to let them live there much longer. South, in Camelot, it will be far easier for them to survive," said Arturia.

"I see. Should they require a lot of room?"

"I think they will be fine if they are warm and fed. They are shy and do not want many people to see them," she said.

Lot found that most curious indeed. He nodded and looked to Morgan and kissed her cheek. "I'll make arrangements for them to sleep in the servant section. The servants can go to another part of the manor to sleep for the night; meanwhile, your guests can sleep there where it's warm."

Arturia nodded and watched the man walk off quickly. Morgan eyed Arturia and frowned faintly at her. "Come with me. Your guests in here may sleep in here if they wish."

"My guards should stay with the people. Bedivere will stay in the room next to mine, if that is possible as will Merlin," said Arturia, watching her sister carefully.

The guardsmen nodded and bowed, walking back out into the cold to direct the people to the servant quarters where Lot was preparing places for the people to sleep. Bedivere and Merlin followed Morgan as Arturia trailed behind. However, Gawain pulled her away from behind them and hid behind a wall as Morgan walked up the steps with Merlin and Bedivere. Arturia frowned at her nephew, very irritated with his actions. "What is wrong, Gawain?"

Gawain held a finger up to his mouth and shook his head. Arturia frowned as she eyed him suspiciously. He, then, pulled her away further to the darkness where he released her and faced her. "Cousin, I do not trust my mother's intentions. Please be careful while around her."

Arturia gazed at her nephew and smiled faintly. "I see, concerned for aunty?"

Gawain hissed at her, his cheeks flushed. "**Cousin**. I won't accept you as my aunt, as you are too small and far too young to be my aunt."

Arturia smiled a little more before Gawain moved away and nodded to her. "I'll see you in the morning, cousin. I will be supping in my room tonight, for I fear my mother's wrath."

Arturia nodded and walked up the steps when Gawain walked off, red hair swaying slightly as he walked away. Morgan was at the top waiting with Bedivere and Merlin, both of whom did not look the least bit happy to be still in the presence of the woman. "I apologize. I was speaking with Gawain about something."

Bedivere's face grew a bit stiff looking as Merlin relaxed faintly, though he flicked his eyes toward Morgan. Arturia wondered what Merlin saw that she didn't in her sister. A witch was from the same people as a wizard, so why did Merlin find her so suspicious?

"Your room is here, Arturia. Bedivere and Merlin are on either side of you as you requested. Dinner will be given to you in your rooms. I'll go have it arranged now. Good evening." Morgan then walked off quickly, skirts flapping around her heels in her haste.

Bedivere looked to Arturia with a concerned look. "All right, my queen?"

"I am fine, Bedivere. Merlin, why are you so suspicious of my sister? Are you and her not the same kind of people?" Arturia looked to Merlin and found she had surprised him, for he nearly jumped when she spoke his name.

Merlin smiled weakly and shook his head. "It is nothing, pupil. Likely, my stomach is upset, but it is she who upsets it, I'm sure. It's little more than her manners is all. I detest rude people."

Arturia nodded and walked into her room. Merlin stayed put when Bedivere retreated into his own. When they went into their separate rooms, Merlin tapped his wand on the door of Arturia and on Bedivere's door as well. He drew up spells on their doors so that no one hostile could enter and then retreated into his room.


	11. Chapter Ten

_**A/N: And so we begin a new chapter. Once again, writing at night. Lol Got myself a new toy that takes up my already short attention span. XD It's one of those cyber pet things from Littlest Pet Shop. Got the turtle one, as I've never seen one with a turtle and I miss my pet turtle muchly. nods**_

_**So anyway… I keep debating whether I should have mordred come out of the woodwork here or not, as Arturia does not allow anyone to think anything less than WOMAN RAWR about her. Hmmm….. **_

_**Chapter Ten**_

Silence was throughout the manor. In the servant quarters, the wasteland people were allowed to be left alone for the night. No one bothered them as per the orders of Arturia. Merlin slept in his room as well as he could. Bedivere remained silent, but ever vigil in his room, taking small naps when he could. Arturia, however, was sound asleep, even lightly snoring. Bedivere could hear it even through the wall, though he did possess rather excellent hearing and he was looking for her snores.

A shadow descended upon the door of Arturia. It was that of a female figure, her hair a dark curtain down her back. Morgan stood glaring at the door and the charms Merlin had placed upon it. She would kill the man so his work would end that very instant!

She went to do this when a thought occurred to her. She pulled her wand out, a light colored stick that was very long and seemed to sparkle slightly. She tapped the charms where Merlin had placed them and felt the wand bounce back into her hand as it was repulsed from them. Merlin wasn't going to win so easily as that! A witch she was and a good one at that! However, the stories she had heard about Merlin made her nervous. Just how powerful a wizard was he? They said he was born from the wishes of the faeries, their wish for someone to champion them in the world of the non-magicians where they were looked over and sometimes killed as being rodents or other vermin, never anything useful or possibly magical. The house elves didn't deal with non-magicians, unicorns were only ever seen by girls occasionally, though not anywhere south of the Carlisle ruins, if they even were there. The only unicorns she knew existed still were in the forests in Scotland, where the people protected them and the other magical creatures.

And as she remembered, Merlin was indeed a champion for the faeries. He learned what he could about the past so he could better understand the present, as he learned as much about magic and the uses and the ways of performing it as he could. Even headmaster Riddle hardly had a complaint about him and he was severely critical of everyone around him!

Morgan tapped the charms again and found a hole. She grinned to herself, though she was started to perspire from the amount of work she had to do in order to just find the hole. Opening the hole, exposing it to her counter spells, was a great deal harder than finding the holes and Morgan all but abandoned the mission. When she released the last charm, she was huffing and puffing softly as her breathe came out in little soft clouds in front of her. The frozen chill was almost making it difficult to stay in the hallway. She slowly opened the door and entered, hoping that the stupid knight with the pale hair didn't try to burst in. She hit the lock softly and tip toed over toward Arturia's bed.

Arturia was huddled under the quilted blankest, curled up in a fetal position with her hands covering her head. It was as though she were trying to hide under the covers in as small a space as possible. Morgan had seen her sleep like this when Arturia was a little girl. She was as odd back then as she had been when she first arrived at the manor, silent and cold, frozen as the very air outside. She would follow Morgan around, clutching Morgan's skirt and wanting to come with her. Mother never wanted her near at all. Morgan understood this feeling as she didn't want Arturia around her at all either. Arturia was a stain, a black stain upon their family. She was the result of a trickery performed by that blasted magician Merlin upon the very man her mother loathed. Why had he allowed something so sinister, nay, helped perform the task himself by disguising the black hearted man, when he himself was touted as the champion of the fairy folk?

Morgan watched Arturia sleep and thought. Killing her would rid the world of the stain, but then another king would have to be selected to rule. Morgan could have her own husband become king, as he should, by killing Arturia and thus putting Morgan in the place of Queen. Morgan also had another thought occur to her. Perhaps, she could make an illusion to make Lot think Arturia was her and he would bed her and Morgan could steal the baby from inside Arturia and place it in her own womb. She knew of some old magic that would do this. This would give an heir to the throne that Morgan alone could manipulate!

No, Morgan couldn't do that. She hated even the thought of the small, insignificant worm getting her hands on her husband, much less letting him between her legs for a night! Morgan pulled the small silver dagger from her belt and eyed Arturia. Killing her would be a mercy to the land, anyway. The woman had not been right as a child, odd and cold as the land itself and was the same as a young woman, one who thought she should rule as a man should!

"M…um…." Morgan stopped when she heard Arturia mutter. She watched the little woman with suspicion. Why was she calling for their mother now? "Mum… please look at me…"

Morgan frowned and moved away. Of course their mother didn't look at Arturia, she hated the very thought of her! Then, why did Morgan feel a strange pain in her chest when she heard the anguished whimper escape the prideful little queen curled up as tight as a ball under all those blankets?

Morgan started thinking carefully. Should she kill Arturia right then, she would have gained only in satisfying the rage that ran through her blood at the sight of her. However, if she had an heir that Morgan herself could manipulate, or maybe not even an heir, so much as someone who claimed to be her heir….

A homunculus was the thing. It was a risk, but Morgan was certain she could manage to find something that would be able to be shoved off as equivalent exchange in the making of the beast. There were also other ways of doing that particular alchemy that Morgan knew existed. Again, she would need either an egg or seed from Arturia to create it, however, the creature wouldn't endure as long as one formed from the life of another human. The thought of turning Arturia into a man sounded better than letting her sleep with her husband, and so, Arturia was spared for that night. Morgan needed to plan out a way to make Arturia a man and steal her seed to create the homunculus. That would take more than one night to do and she had to be certain of her research. Perhaps a journey to the Hogsmeade library was called for. She didn't have access to the Hogwarts library, not as an adult, but she had access to the one in Hogsmeade, which held copies of the books inside the Hogwarts library for those outside of the school.

The door opening caused Morgan to stop. She put a disillusioning charm on herself and skirted to the darkness. Gawain entered the room and looked around, his long red hair standing out even in the darkness of Arturia's room. Green eyes looked around and looked over Morgan before frowning. When he moved on, looking around as though searching for something, Morgan skittered out as fast as possible, trying to make no noise.

Gawain stopped when he heard his mother leave and closed his eyes. What had his mother been attempting to do to his aunt? He knew she had been there, the door had been locked and he had taken a key for the room from one of the maidservants by charming her with his smiles and good words. He went over and closed the door carefully and went over to check on his little aunt on her bed.

He pulled back the covers slowly, so as to not disturb her and blushed faintly when he saw her in the nude. She was really very small. Her body was very slender, but her hips were wide. Her arms and legs were both muscled, though not overly so and her chest was partially hidden by her arms as she was tightly curled into a small ball. He pulled the covers back over her and moved away to sit in a chair, feeling a little bit ashamed for peeking at her and enjoying the sight a little. However, he justified it with the need to know if there was anything terrible under the covers that might be trying to harm her, magical or otherwise.

He could recognize magic when he saw it, as his eyes spied it all the time. Spells and enchantments came up as lines, like a spider's web, forming around the object that was enchanted, or a net of lines where the spells were located. That was how he had seen his mother, for the lines were all over her body.

"Mu..m… please look at me… please look..."

Gawain frowned when he heard Arturia whimper, clutching his hand to his chest over his heart as he heard her soft cries. What had his grandmother done to his aunt when she was so young that she couldn't be fostered yet? She was so small, so tiny that she would have seemed sickly or a runt to any normal person as a child. Her face was so delicate, like that of a finely made doll from France or Germany, that he could hardly tell that she had supposedly grown up as a boy in the tutelage of Merlin.

He sighed and stood again and glanced toward the flaxen haired girl that he refused to truly acknowledge as his mother's sister. She was so much smaller than him, a few years younger than him even, and yet she was supposed to be revered in the same position as an older woman would. He admitted, reluctantly, that he was a little smitten with his aunt, for she was very pretty and so very clever and brave. He wished all the women in Cannick could be like that, since he was needing to find a bride to wed and soon. He wasn't the heir to Cannick, however, his mother was growing more and more insistent that he find a bride soon and give her grandchildren.

He smiled faintly and walked out the door, locking it behind him and pocketing the key. He would find a bride one day, he knew, so he didn't worry overmuch for his aunt. Besides that, he didn't really like the idea of having to bed down so far to kiss his bride and Arturia was really tiny compared to him. He saved his laughter for when he went to his room so he wouldn't alarm the pale haired knight he would serve beside.

* * *

The party left Cannick the next morning, Bedivere the only one who did not rest well. Arturia had Gawain keep him upright while they rode to the next town to sleep for the night. When they finally reached Camelot, it was on a strange day where the people seemed strangely scarce. When she went the castle, she found a display of a few of her guardsmen who were staying to protect Camelot from raiders were being beheaded.

"What is the meaning of this!" she called. Galain immediately saw her and ran over to her from the platform. "Galain! What is the meaning of this!?"

"They are men of Gilgamesh, spies!" cried Galain as he ran over to her. Arturia looked to the men on the platform and seemed to growl low in her throat. Galain had to take a step back from her as she dismounted angrily and pulled her sword and scabbard off the back of her saddle and stalked through the crowd.

The crowd parted for her as she strode up the steps to the platform where the men were to be beheaded for treason. She stopped glared down at one man who cowered in fear at the look of complete outrage burning in Arturia's eyes.

"You, men of Gilgamesh," she said, loud enough for the crowd to hear, "will die for spying against your queen for a man who would sooner kill you as look at you! Such insolence will not be tolerated!" Arturia pulled Excalibur from its scabbard and let the scabbard drop onto the platform as she walked over to the nearest man by his hair and hauled him over to the chopping block. With one swing, she didn't just cut off his head; she sliced the man completely in half, his body still jerking on the ground beside her feet. "This is what I will do to traitors! No headsman will take care of this job, but I will! For it is **ME** who you betray!"

The people seemed to back away from the bloody sight, Arturia splattered a bit with the man's blood from her cutting him in two and the two halves on the ground, blood flowing over the boards of the platform and dripping onto the frozen earth beneath. She grabbed the second man and struggled with him for a moment before she took his head and wrenched it off with a gauntlet clad hand. When had she put on any armor?

Merlin was rooted to the spot, uncertain as to whether he should say or do something to stop the slaughter on the platform. The people were backing away slowly, though they did not scream or cry out in terror. And Arturia was a terror. After she had ripped the man's head off, she stood holding it in her black gauntlet covered hand and looked out at the crowd. "This is what will happen to those who will oppose me in such an underhanded fashion. Who would endanger the lives of every Briton and not just me." She threw the head out into the crowd and watched as some people finally cried out in horror and moved away from the head. It was then Merlin saw that she was clad in armor; black armor with red lines decorating it. Her gauntlets were sharp with claws on the ends of her fingers with razors pointing backward toward her arm along the sides of them; her sides were protected by black armor plates with the same razor sharp looking edges to them as the gauntlets. Merlin realized, as he watched her, that the armor came from both the sword and scabbard being together in Arturia's possession.

The last man on the platform was pulled up crying and begging for mercy. He kissed at Arturia's feet and begged for her mercy, to be spared death in exchange for his unending loyalty. Arturia watched him with an unreadable expression on her face, a mask once more. Merlin frowned at her. Why wasn't she giving her mercy to this man who begged for it so? He had taught her that forgiveness was important, that mercy toward those who would be your enemy was the just way of dealing with people rather than ignoring them. Why was she simply standing there and watching the man beg and grovel at her feet?

"No mercy," she said, and then she stabbed the man through the top of his skull as she plunged Excalibur down on him. He jerked slightly on the platform before she used her foot to pull the sword from him and whipped the blood out to her side. She cleaned the blade off with her cloak and put it back into Avalon before walking off the platform, still in the armor.

The people just watched her, stunned. Merlin, however, frowned disapprovingly at her. He had taught her better when she was a child and she was directly opposing the morals he instilled in her, or he thought he had. Agravaine and Gaheris both seemed a little uneasy as they watched Arturia grab the reigns of her horse and head for the stable. Gawain, however, was left with Bedivere, frowning slightly at the turmoil inside him.

"She's brutal, savage," said Bedivere.

"Aye, but she's also right in killing them. No mercy should be given to spies like that," said Gawain softly. "However… something about her right now is troubling."

"I know what you mean," said Bedivere. "However, I'm also certain that that could have been handled differently."

Gawain nodded and helped the pale haired man toward the stables. Meanwhile, Merlin was following Arturia, thoughtful as he watched her put her horse into his stall and deal with him. The armor had gone now and she was in her cloak once more. However, her cheeks still had the creeping black that had come up when her armor appeared on her. They were slowly returning back to normal, though this still didn't give Merlin any comfort. It made him feel even more uneasy.

When things calmed down, Arturia showed the wasteland people to the ruins outside of her city. She gave them many things to use, clothes and food and things to make the ruins less frozen inside their walls. The wasteland chief graciously took the materials and distributed it all to his people before Arturia left to announce the arrival of the wasteland folk to her townspeople.

"In our village, we have newcomers," she said, "As you have seen, they are not like us, but from the wasteland border." At this, people started shouting at her, saying things like "Why did you bring them here!?" and "What will happen when we catch their diseases?!" Arturia waved her hands for the people to quiet down and gazed out at the people gathered. "They are not diseased as you seem to believe. They are cursed with this in their blood, unable to pass it on to us with just dealing with us from day to day. They would have to breed with us in order to give it to their own children. I have brought them here to allow them to live in a place with far more opportunity to live than they would have in the desert. Please do not harm them and let them work beside you. They are now people of Camelot, your neighbors. Treat them as such."

With that, she stepped down off the step she was standing on to be above the crowd and walked to the castle. Merlin was inside the castle waiting for her when she arrived. "You disappointed me, Arturia. That man was asking for your mercy and you didn't give it. Why? You could have at least used the opportunity to show yourself as a merciful ruler instead of a brutal one."

"The man was unnessescary, all of them were. They spied on me and passed information to Gilgamesh. Now he knows that I have been gathering men for an army and will most definitely come to take Briton now, though now it will not be in months, but weeks." Arturia's tone was far colder than Merlin had ever heard it toward him and felt a chill run down his spine when she looked to him. "Don't judge me so shrewdly, Merlin."

"Or else what, Arturia? You will behead me much like you did to that one man? Will you rip me limb from limb?" said Merlin, leaning against the wall behind him.

Arturia looked away from him. "You I would never harm unless you too betrayed me."

Merlin sighed faintly and nodded. "I apologize, Arturia, for I was being rude myself." He stood up straight and walked up to his quarters, still thinking about the display he had seen and the meanings behind it. Arturia, left alone, crouched down and hugged herself, staring at the floor as she shivered slightly. She did not cry, nor did she even hint that she was sad or upset; yet, she felt an incredible pain inside her chest from the betrayal she had been informed of. Now, she had no time whatsoever to raise her army.


	12. Chapter Eleven

_**A/N: I'm currently at the salon about to get my biannual hair trimming. (for some reason we don't get our hair cut more often, my gran and I, so it gets pretty long on the off period as my hair grows pretty quickly.) The one that cuts my hair is this cute little Japanese woman named kayoko. She's also very efficient and meticulous about cutting my hair.**_

_**Anyway, don't you just love brutality? XD Merlin's cringing a bit when she's going berserk on the first two, but draws the line when someone begs so undignified like the third guy, which meant the guy was truly desperate to let himself be seen so horribly.**_

_**Chapter Eleven**_

A messenger was sent out to all of the towns in Briton that Arturia had not managed to go through in her B-line to the border. It was a decree that all able men should come to fight on the front line at Camelot. Young men and older men were to march south to help defeat the forces of Gilgamesh on his invasion into Briton. Small groups were sent to the capital city of their sovereign, all marching south to protect their home from.

Another messenger was sent to Ireland, Scotland and Wales to plead the kings of those lands for help as well, for they would be next to be put to the slaughter were Camelot to fall. King James of Wales sent his best that he could muster, knowing full well that Arturia was right. King Conochbar of Ireland sent along what soldiers he could. Maeve of Connacht didn't send any troupes along to Camelot, while Scotland only spared some of the Sinclair and the MacLeod clans to Camelot's aid.

A final message was sent to Cuchulainn in Skye to request his return to join the effort to turn back the forces of Gilgamesh. When Cuchulainn received it, he was outside, training with Sgatha. "A summons, Cuchulainn?" she asked. The seal on the document was that of a dragon.

Cuchulainn wrapped his leg around his spear to keep it upright and then opened the document. What king used a dragon for his seal?

_Champion of Ireland, Cuchulainn, Ireland's child of light,_

_This has come to you to request your assistance in fighting Gilgamesh at Camelot in the south of Briton. If this has come to you, then it was sent on because the need is desperate. It will be because I have been unable to gather enough forces before the Golden King arrives to invade and need to send out a general decree to bring in as many able bodied men as possible._

_Your king will have likely sent some of his soldiers to Camelot, and for that I appreciate him. He will most likely not have given me his best; for his best are needed at his home to protect it against invasion should Camelot fall. Should Camelot fall, Gilgamesh will not likely hesitate to invade Wales, Scotland and Ireland and kill anything that moves. Therefore, this goes to you by my personal hand. You are the best Ireland has to offer and I need the best at my side on the front line._

_You are free to decline, Hound of Ulster, however, you will be declining the aid needed to turn back this menace that threatens us as well as the plea of a queen. I have not met you and_

_likely won't meet you even on the battle field, for it will be a vast battle field stretching across all of south Briton in order to shut out any area that Gilgamesh might use. Please do not decline for this reason alone, for I can not remedy it nor force myself to be in the same place as you. The best needs to be spread out along the line with the last being in Camelot herself to protect what we can not stop._

_So I ask of you, Cuchulainn, please come to our aid. If you able and you are indeed the best, you will be paramount to our victory over the Golden King._

_Signed_

_Arturia Pendragon, Daughter of Uther Pendragon, Reigning Queen of Briton_

Cuchulainn frowned faintly as he folded up the letter. It was the new queen of Briton he had heard about before he had left for Skye to learn from Sgatha. How long had it been since then? Months? Weeks? While he enjoyed the warm arms of Aife sharing his bed, he missed his future wife a great deal. She was as gentle and sweet as a warm spring rain and her smile caused his heart to beat faster than normal. Truly, she was the only one he would have for his wife.

"What is it about, Cuchulainn?" asked Sgatha, watching him as she leaned on her spear.

Cuchulainn picked up gae bolg and made it disappear in his hand. "I am needed south… at Camelot. Seems the new queen is truly in trouble, for she has written this herself to me in her desperation for those who would champion Camelot."

Sgatha frowned and pulled up her spear. "You are not ready to leave my care yet. Though you learn fast, you haven't learned all."

Cuchulainn nodded, though he felt a little irritated at her statement. She was right, to a certain extent, it was too soon for him to leave, yet he couldn't deny the queen of Briton a champion when she so pleaded for one. "If I live, Sgatha, I will come back and learn whatever else I can from you," he said.

Sgatha sighed and nodded. "Fine. If you live, come back to Skye for the rest of your training. If you don't, don't haunt me while I bathe like you have for the past month now." Cuchulainn blushed faintly and chuckled as Sgatha threw him an amused look, though she tried hard to look angry.

With that, Cuchulainn went into the house of Sgatha and found Aife sitting and glaring at Cuchulainn. His face softened considerably as he walked toward her. He leaned on the wall with his arms crossed in front of him, watching her. "You heard, I take it?"

Aife twitched and glared ahead of her. "So you're leaving? To do what? Fight some enemy that isn't threatening you nor do you know anything about him?"

Cuchulainn blushed faintly, scratching his nose as he smiled sheepishly. Not for the first time did he actually look his age; an awkward teenager who had been planning on doing something naughty and been found out. If Aife hadn't felt so angry at him, she might have thought him cute. However, she did have to admit that she had been holding off on letting herself get pregnant to continue being with Cuchulainn, as her deal with him was to bear him a son. She had spells she could use on herself to prevent pregnancy and she used them each and every time he coaxed her into his bed and his hot kisses.

Cuchulainn eyed her carefully. "You still haven't become pregnant and I still have training to continue. Therefore, I will have to come back," he said, grinning at Aife. "In the mean time, I think I should give you a reminder of me before I go off."

Aife flushed scarlet and backed away toward his room, eyeing him coyly. "So you're not leaving immediately, I see."

Cuchulainn advanced on his lover casually as she backed away as though he was going to maul her. Aife gasped when Cuchulainn seemed to just suddenly appear in front of her. This boy didn't really need more training; he had picked up more than what Sgatha had taught him, including how to move faster than the human eye could register. Cuchulainn caught Aife by her shoulders and leaned. She leaned up to kiss him, but she found his forehead against hers, his eyes closed and a small smile graced his fair face. That was the first time she had ever seen his face so gentle as he held her. She had seen his face alight with passion and pleasure, she had seen it angry, she had seen it calculating, but never gentle and never toward **her**.

"Cuchulainn," she muttered, watching him as she licked her lips. "Cuchulainn, why are—"

"Shhh." Cuchulainn smiled a little more and opened his eyes, both red and cat like; his devil eyes. "I was enjoying the moment, Aife," he said, smirking deviously, "And then you had to ruin it."

Aife huffed before being silenced once more, though this time with his lips upon hers. Hot and passionate, he parted her lips deftly and sank his tongue into her waiting mouth. His touch was as hot as his mouth and Aife began to wonder if she was as hot to the touch as he was. As he pulled her to his pallet, she could feel his heart pumping hard in his chest, though her hands trembled slightly.

"Cu," she whispered against his lips, rubbing his chest with her hands. Her heart pounded hard in her chest as he growled and pulled her hard against him, laying her underneath him on the pallet before pulling her hands from his chest and bringing them above her head where he held them fast with one hand, his fingers intertwined with hers. His other hand traveled down over a breast and rubbed the hardened nipple through the cloth of her tunic and shift. She growled in her throat and thrust her breasts into him, wanting more.

Cuchulainn grinned against her mouth and continued teasing her until he shed her of her clothes, then he teased her more until she came, shuddering and gasping for him. When he finally entered her, fire raced through his veins until they were both left gasping for breath. They made love a couple more times on that pallet, the second time gentler and slower, and the last was furious, their loud calls echoing. When they were finally well spent, Cuchulainn simply held onto Aife against his body, enjoying the feel of her soft body against his. When she slept, he dressed and gathered his things and left.

* * *

The people of Camelot stood out in the street, watching their queen ride out on her black horse, armor on and helmet under her arm. Gawain and Bedivere rode behind her, wearing the black armor of Camelot, as did the other men on horseback behind her. The archers followed behind the knights and the pikemen and footsoldiers followed behind them with catapults that they built within a day or two.

Merlin rode beside Arturia, watching her in her black armor. The armor was alive, he was sure of it. It had to be the product of the scabbard and the sword being together, for he had never seen that occur with Uther when he cursed the sword to forever remain black with his black heart. The only thing that wasn't alive was the helmet that was constructed for her. It was black like her armor and was in the image of a dragon head. Merlin found it amusing, the perfect helm for the "chief dragon".

They rode out to the ruins and past it, watching the wasteland folk come out of the skeletal buildings to see them pass by. Some of the children waved, if they were able, as did a few of the women. Mostly, they just stood and watched as the strange little queen rode off to battle an army far greater than her own.

As they rode south, Arturia saw other armies gathering. The front line was being established, the armies of Wales, Scotland and Ireland were before her and waiting for commands. She whipped the side of her horse with her reigns and galloped to the Irishman leading the soldiers from Ireland. The Welsh commander rode over toward her as did the Sinclair and MacLeod leaders.

"Queen Arturia!" called the Welsh commander as he slowed down and stopped near her. "We received your distress call," he said, "My king bade me come with these men and so here we are!"

"As are my men," said the Irish commander.

"And mine!"

"And mine!"

Both the Sinclair commander and the MacLeod commander seemed to speak almost as one, their faces rather similar to one another. Both had red hair and freckles, though one was a woman and the other a man. Arturia recognized the MacLeod commander as being Keirnan MacLeod, the chief of the clan. His wife, Ada, was over with the other soldiers, her dark hair bound back in a tight braid and blue swirls were painted on her face and body. Both leaders looked almost unearthly in their beauty, both with high cheek bones and beautiful faces, their eyes both were blue.

Arturia nodded toward them all and started up the ridge where they overlooked the ground where Gilgamesh would be arriving. Some of her riders had gone out to check the shoreline and found boats coming to the island quickly. As she watched the other side of the small valley, she saw men marching up onto the other ridge. More and more appeared until finally, in the middle of the mess of men, appeared a man dressed in golden armor, sitting atop a white Arabian horse. Arturia nudged her horse forward and rode down to the valley as the other leaders followed her.

Gilgamesh rode forward and stopped in front of Arturia and the commanders, sneering at her. "So the little queen has built herself an army? Quite pathetic, really. You won't survive against me, let alone my men."

"Don't think so highly o' yourself, you spike-haired blonde idiot," said the Sinclair commander.

Gilgamesh eyed the woman with disgust. "Bringing bitches onto the battlefield degrades the bloodshed," he said loudly. The woman commander snarled and attempted to launch herself at Gilgamesh, however, Keirnan held her at bay.

"Silence, sister," he hissed at her.

Arturia simply stared at Gilgamesh with her doll like mask. "Taunting only serves to show how much of a child you truly are, Lord Gilgamesh. If you are quite through flapping your lips, I should like to return and end this."

Gilgamesh growled and jerked his horses reigns, making his horse almost dance as he moved closer, though he couldn't get too close in as the Welsh and Irish commanders both moved in on either side of her. "Speaking to me in such a manner! HAH! I shall rip you from that horse and flay your skin from your body before this ends!" He then backed away and galloped up the ridge to his men.

Arturia rode back to her side of the battlefield as the leaders stayed around her. "What shall we do against him?" asked the Welsh commander, "What can we do against such a formidable menace?"

"We survive and make him pay for every last drop of blood. Should we fail to keep his forces from breaking through to Camelot, our only hope is Camelot herself." With that, Arturia broke away from them and charged up to the side of Merlin. "If you have any suggestions, master, I would appreciate hearing them now."

"Don't get killed."

Arturia rolled her eyes and put her helmet on, pulling the visor down over her face with a clawed gauntlet covered hand.

Gilgamesh rode to the side of Rashid, who sat upon his own horse, dressed in his best armor. "Rashid! Start with the archers! I want the sky to be blotted out by their arrows!"

Rashid nodded and rode off to the archers and gave the command. The next moment, a rain of arrows littered the sky. Merlin put up a shield over as many as he could, but those he couldn't reach fell from the arrows hitting them in various parts of their bodies. Arturia called out and the pikemen and foot soldiers started out, holding up the flags of Briton, Wales, MacLeod, Sinclair and Ireland.

Charioteers from Ireland came up from behind to join their comrades, one of whom had long blue hair. The Irish commander looked to his charioteers and saw Cuchulainn, waving to him. "Cuchulainn! You came? HAH! So the king really did send you!"

Cuchulainn laughed and waved to the commander. "No, it was the plea of a woman what brought me here!"

"A woman? Another woman you've managed to charm yet again, lad?" said the older commander, chuckling.

"No, one I have yet to meet. Where is the queen that I have heard so much about?" Cuchulainn jumped off the chariot and went over to the Irish commander. However, before the commander could answer, another volley of arrows rained down on them all. Cuchulainn's fair face was splattered in the blood of his comrade from Ulster as he ducked down with a shield to protect himself from the deathly rain.

"Our leader is down!" cried one of the men as he broke rank and picked the fallen commander.

"Who will lead us?"

"Cuchulainn will lead us!" cried one of the men. Cuchulainn's cheeks burned. He was no commander of an army! He was one of them! He was a soldier, born to be a hero and raised in the king's army!

"Cuchulainn! We need a leader!" said one of the men to him.

Cuchulainn looked around and frowned as the men looked to him for orders. He was the most capable among them and that was likely their reason for electing him so unceremoniously.

Cuchulainn watched as the British soldiers charged into battle. "Fine! I'll be your ruddy leader! Foot soldiers! Lancers! TO THE FRAY!" he snarled. He grabbed up the reigns of his horse and jumped up into his chariot. "ARCHERS! Send these asses our gratitude!"

Immediately, the Irish archers stepped up and released their arrows, some lighting them on fire and sending them out. Arturia looked up at the sky and saw the Irish letting loose their arrows. She hadn't given any order to do such a thing! However, it was a good idea to do similar to the Babylonians what they did to her people. "Archers! Send them off! Knights! Ride out with me!"

As the knights lined up with Arturia, the very few she had gathered, they galloped out onto the field, slashing at the fronts of the Babylon army as they clashed with them. Gilgamesh sent out his own men and rode out on his own horse. He planned on meeting up and demolishing the little queen!

What ensued was little more than absolute chaos. Charioteers rode out among the riders, riders ran back and forth among the men on the ground, slaying those opposing them, footsoldiers and pikemen both cutting, hacking and stabbing away at their foes. The blood bath was causing some of the more feisty men to go into a battle rage as they hacked through men as if they were nothing. One such man was so into the battle that his very body was changing form. His war spasm was causing him to become more dog looking than human, his legs elongated, his arms longer, his teeth sharp fangs and his mouth larger, his ears longer and pointed and his eyes wild and glowing. Cuchulainn was little more than a savage hacking away at those in front of him in this mode and it was a mode the Ulstermen knew all too well, for they had witnessed it before.

The Sinclairs and MacLeods backed their clans reputations for being the best in all of Scotland as they ripped men apart and cracked strange instruments that sounded like thunder claps going off at the soldiers. Men fell to these thunder clap weapons as they walked through the crowd as if they were nothing.

Gilgamesh sighted Arturia and grinned, riding straight for her. Arturia's sword, Excalibur, was brandished high as she sighted him as well and made to run him through with the blade. The blade glanced off his armor as he jerked away before he could be hit. Gilgamesh made for another hit at Arturia and once again, he jerked back to avoid the great sword she held in one hand. "Such a small, pitiful woman trying to fight a king? Admit it, Arturia, you're NOTHING!"

Arturia snarled and swung her sword at him. He let it glance off his arm as he shot it out at her face and knocked her off her horse. Arturia landed on her back, dazed as Gilgamesh got off his horse and walked over toward her. "Tch, tch, tch, such an arrogant little woman. I will have to punish you severely, over and over again, until you **rot**."

Arturia kicked out at his leg and scrambled away from him. She pulled Excalibur up and Gilgamesh laughed. "Do you really think that sword will do anything against a GOD? Fine, I'll show you my own blade, just because I feel generous."

Great, invisible doors opened behind him, red light flooding the valley before being replaced with gold. All manner of blades came floating out of the golden light as he stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Welcome to hell, queen," he said with a maniacal grin, "You're about to meet the devil."

He then reached into the gold light and pulled out a strange blade. It wasn't even a sword, more than it was a pole like thing that fit into one hand. The three pillars on the golden rod began to spin, each black with a red-pink light glowing from lines in the black, each spinning in the opposite direction to its neighbor. As they spun, the very air around them seemed to warp. She stared at it in horror. What manner of weapon had the madman summoned?!

A blue haired monster nearby distracted the pair as it threw several men over them and past them. Arturia looked to the monster with equal horror and looked to Gilgamesh. "Did you bring this monstrosity?"

"If I had, I would have had him destroying your lot over there by now!" He moved away from her quickly and ran back to his horse, cursing heavily. Arturia ran after him.

"We aren't finished here!" she snarled at him and cut his horse out from under him. She swung her blade around the catch him this time, but only caught his strange sword instead.

"So you wish a taste of Ea? Then, you shall HAVE IT!" He hit Arturia on the jaw and sent her reeling backwards, helmet flying off of her head and onto the ground. Another man flew past her and nearly knocked her to the ground.

When Arturia looked up to see Gilgamesh, she saw the sword's pillars spinning wildly, the air glowing as it rippled around the pillars. Then, he swung the blade at her and all she saw was bright light and then black.

Gawain saw his aunt fly backwards as she was hit with the strange warped air that was thrown from the golden king's blade. He yelled and ran toward her, seeing blood fly from her and land on the ground as she hit the dirt and rolled to a stop, the very ground where the warped air had hit was split in two beneath her. "ARTURIA!!!"

Bedivere, his axe in hand, rode after Gawain as he ran straight through the battle field and toward their queen. Gilgamesh laughed as he looked at the bloody mess he had made of the little woman who demanded to be known as a ruler. "This just proves that a woman is no match on the battle field!"

Arturia glowed red as her sword and scabbard both pulsed. She slowly stoof up, using her sword to stand, and glared at Gilgamesh angrily. Blood went back into her skull, her body mended itself right in front of his eyes and he had no idea how she was healing like that! "We are not finished here, Lord Gilgamesh," she spat at him.

A snarl, like that of a wolf or a dog, alerted Gilgamesh to the great blue haired monstrosity headed straight for him. Arturia pulled up her sword and closed her eyes. The sword glowed and pulsed with a heartbeat like her own. "Bring me victory… EXCALIBUR!" She swung the blade at Gilgamesh and sent him flying backward as well as the great blue haired beast that was advancing on him as a great big burst of black energy shot forth into both of them.

Arturia's armor sealed itself up and she had a strange sort of visor over her eyes, covering her face. Gilgamesh rolled to his feet and pulled up his sword Ea and gathered the warped air around the pillars. She raised her sword up again to send another volley at him and he swung the blade at her first, send her flying backward. Then, he sent forth a rain of weapons onto her like arrows, all of which shot from inside the strange dimensional gate behind him. The monstrosity behind him was wounded severely and panting, slowly turning into a human being, one with a fair face and blue hair. He kicked the man in the stomach with a cold clad foot and sent him flying another several feet away from him. "Filthy peasants. MONGRELS! MEN! RIDE FORTH TO CAMELOT! ANNIHILATE EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!!!"

Rashid found his opportunity. He rode forward like Gilgamesh ordered; however, he pulled out his poisoned dagger and threw it into the man's back. Or, at least, he thought he had. The dagger stopped in mid air behind Gilgamesh as he slowly turned his red eyed gaze to the man. "You fought well for a coward. Your family will be safe, rest assured. However, you will not." Then, all Rashid saw was a rain of light, weapons shooting from nothing and hitting him, then all he saw was nothing as his blood ran onto the ground.

Arturia ran after Gilgamesh as he mounted another horse and went straight away with his men. He was trying to get to the castle before the battle could be decided in her favor! The cheat!!

She pulled herself up onto a horse and rode after them, but was hit from behind by another bunch of arrows flying. She gasped and fell off the horse she was on, fell to the ground as blood spluttered from her mouth, her eyes wide. Then, another volley fell onto her, impaling her further with small points of gold for the arrow heads.

Gilgamesh's men advanced through the British ranks. Irishmen, Scotsmen, and Welshmen all took whatever they could get their hands on and went straight after Gilgamesh, a freshly conscious Cuchulainn among them. That pointed toe of his boot had made a decent sized hole in his side, but he wasn't about to let that man get away with taking Camelot as well as the queen!

The ruins came into sight. He had seen them on his way in before; however, Gilgamesh paid little attention to them now. That is, until strange creatures emerged from the buildings. They were humans; at least they had been at one point in time. The creatures brandished swords and arrows and spears, all ready to fight him. He cringed at the sight of them and forced his horse backward. "Lepers! MEN! RETREAT! THEY HAVE LEPERS FIGHTING!!"

The men all seemed to stagger away, crying out in fright as the creatures advanced on them. As they began to retreat, they ran right into the Irishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen and British men, lead by the knights who served Camelot and Cuchulainn. The Scotsmen pulled out the strange thunder clap things and started shooting once more. The great Hound of Ulster rode on a horse straight for Gilgamesh, holding up a bright red spear. Gilgamesh growled and sent forth a volley of the weapons in his treasury. Men fell, but not the knights and not the hound. They still rode toward him as he stood his ground. However, one look at the creatures headed for him forced him to escape through one of his gates. Cuchulainn launched himself off his horse and onto the ground near Gilgamesh as he started to retreat through his gate. He threw the spear at him and missed him as the man disappeared.

"To the valley!" cried Gaheris. "They're retreating! Come on!"

Gawain reared his horse and shot off after the men running, his sword brandished high. Agravaine pulled out his own sword and backed his brothers as they took down man after man. Cuchulainn pulled himself around and ran at top speed in a blur of motion straight for the valley to head them off. Bedivere, meanwhile, went straight for Arturia, who was shot through with so many arrows; he wondered how she could survive it. He pulled them out of her body, but found that they were coming out far too easily. Blood poured out of each would, spilling onto the ground.

"My queen! Please! Don't die just yet! We have them on the run! Your plan worked!" he cried, tears pouring over his pale cheeks.

However, Arturia either had grown deaf to him, or she had truly died. He did not know which, for it was miraculous that she had even survived the hit from Gilgamesh's sword Ea!

The men of Babylon retreated in far smaller numbers than they had arrived with. Their ships, those that carried no one and were left, were burnt down on the water by the men of Briton, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Those that were left behind were killed to the man by those who had seen far too much to let it pass.

But what of the little queen who had rallied them to such a great battle, to such a grand purpose as to defend their very lives from a great menace? Gawain fell to his knees beside Arturia, his brothers looking away as he touched their newly found aunt's face, which was staring at nothing. She had healed miraculously by some force or other before, why did she not heal now? Did she have to have the weapon out of her before she could heal and they had left her too long to allow her to heal?

The men and women of Scotland came over and joined in the mourning, the Irishmen following suit and then the Welshmen joined in. The hound of Ulster hung back, unable to get through to see the queen, though he glimpsed her face. It was white with blood splattered on it, blood dripping from her nose and mouth as lovely gold eyes stared at nothing. If this was the queen who had pleaded with him to fight, he was sorely pissed off that such a fate had befallen her. She was a far braver woman than he had ever seen, even Aife didn't compare. She had the rallied up men from all over the country and stood up to incredible odds, coming back again and again to fight more as though she were possessed of the devil himself, only to fall to the attack of so many arrows that she could not live through it.

Cuchulainn stabbed the ground with gae bolg and crouched down, covering his face with his dirty, bloody hands and sighing. From his mouth then came a lamenting song, one without words, but sounded the feelings of all the men and women present.

**The small queen was dead, all hail the queen.**


	13. Chapter Twelve

_**A/N: This thing is getting pretty epic. o.O;; ah, probably should put the whole thing onto a site or something besides and devart. But yeah, not finished.**_

_**Chapter Twelve**_

Arturia found herself in a dark place, nothing all around her but black. She frowned and walked around; trying to find where the black ended, but found that she wasn't even walking on something solid.

A figure walked toward her dressed in a dark gray set of robes, his hood drawn up and over his face, covering it. As he walked toward her, Arturia wondered who the man was, for she had never seen him before and the black nothing all around her was getting disconcerting.

The man lifted his head and Arturia saw a man, not more than twenty, with a very pale face. His black hair was relatively short, wavy and hung around his face slightly, almost hiding his eyes, which, to Arturia, looked like great black holes in his head. "What is this? What's going on?" she asked him.

"Do you believe in Death, Arturia?" he said, watching her.

Arturia frowned at the question. Of course she believed in death, as death was a state of being one went into after their time on the earth was done, whether by human hands, ie murder, or by God's hand, ie natural death. To ask this question puzzled Arturia and she looked at the man with a fair bit of annoyance.

"You should," he said as he pulled his hood all the way off of him. The whites of his eyes seemed to disappear and Arturia thought she saw a pair of pointed ears, but she couldn't be sure. It didn't really matter, since his eyes alone caused her to jump backward.

"Why am I here?"

"Because I am supposed to send you either to heaven or hell, miss," he said. His accent was also very strange, not of Briton, except very slightly, not of Scotland, not of Wales and most definitely not of Ireland.

"I am dead?"

The man looked to her before holding up a hand. "Yes, however, your body has healed itself. Your soul, however, detached itself before the body could heal."

"Then, I am to be judged now?" she asked, steeling herself up for the big judgment of her soul.

"The Father doesn't want you to be sent on, yet. The Creator wants you to continue living, for you are far too young and precious to Him to die yet. You are also very precious to your people and the people whose lives you have touched. Your time on Earth has not ended yet, but this is a minor set back. I will reattach your soul to your body in a few moments. I sort of have to deal with something before I can deal with you."

Donovan turned and the black lifted away to show strange portals in boxes, each showing some different person. One portal had a strange brightly colored display on it and was attached to some long black rope to a box with another black rope attaching it to what looked to be like controls. The side of the box said "Nintendo 64" on it. She found it very odd indeed. When she looked up to the young man, she found he had taken his cloak off and was sitting in a chair and looking at portals, his body broad shouldered and muscled and his jaw strong and his cheek bones high. Indeed, once more, his eyes were back to "normal" and he was looking at the portals for something. He even wore strange clothes, a relatively tight shirt with no ties and no buttons that had short sleeves covered his torso in the color of black. His legs were covered in a strange faded blue material that looked as though it were quite thick and quite sturdy. A woman with long black hair walked in, gold eyes looking from the man to Arturia herself. "You're showing someone this place, Donovan?"

The man known as Donovan waved his hand dismissively at the woman, who was quite tall and had a very pretty face. She wasn't as beautiful as the Sinclair woman, but she had a very lovely face indeed. "Where's my sister? You said you had felt her soul detach."

"Ah! There she is. There's our Ada." He grinned and Arturia found his smile very boyish as well as very odd compared to his appearance a few minutes prior.

"You could have let Blain do it, you know," said the black haired woman as she put her hand affectionately into Donovan's hair and ruffled it. He rolled his eyes and tapped the portal in front of him.

"Blain is off with your sister Merope, at the moment, enjoying the same fun that our mother gets in life from dad," he said gruffly and stood.

Arturia watched all this silently, assessing her surroundings and the conversation. What about this Ada? Was that not the name of Keirnan MacLeod's wife? Were these people some sort of wizards?

Donovan walked toward Arturia once more and nodded to her. "Now I will take you back, for my wife's sister is there with you."

"You have been granted permission to give life to human beings? Are you that close to the creator?" asked Arturia, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

"No, but a body can still function without a soul. There are worse things than dying, believe me," he said. Arturia couldn't fathom how a body could survive without its soul, but she let it go as Donovan took her arm gently and the strange surroundings disappeared entirely to that of the valley where they fought. "I heal the body so that it will continue living and then I reattach the soul to the body. The body can be healed to that even after death; however, you can't reattach the soul unless you are me. Only He can actually create life."

"But what you are doing IS creating life in an already dead thing, right?" asked Arturia.

"No, not really. You may see it that way, but I am not really doing any such thing," he said softly. "I only usher souls to their rightful place, I rarely do this sort of thing unless He asks me to or if my family is involved. He knows where my heart lies," he said, looking to Arturia once more.

She pitied the young man in front of her, for he had a difficult job to carry out and he did it with aplomb. When they reached the side of Ada MacLeod, she saw the young woman's strange red eyes were glassy and staring up at the sky as her husband, Keirnan, held her fast to him. Beside them both was a silvery woman, Ada's soul, Arturia suspected. When Arturia looked down at herself, she saw that she too was silvery like Ada's soul. She really had died and this really was occurring before her!

Ada smiled faintly at Donovan. "I haven't seen you for a while now, Donovan," she said, "I kept forgetting to see daddy and everyone because of all the trouble happening."

"It's what happens when your tribe is loyal to Gryffindor," said Donovan as he smiled faintly.

Keirnan looked up at Ada and Donovan talking and then looked to Arturia and smiled sadly, wiping tears from his face. "You'll see the mourners over there, your highness."

Arturia frowned and looked over in the direction that the beautiful man before her indicated. Over in the distance was a large group, all her men, those of Wales, those of Scotland and those of Ireland, gathered around something with helmets off and hands over their hearts. She frowned deeply in confusion as she looked back to Keirnan. "Why are you crying if you know who this man is and that he does this for his family?"

"Why would anyone cry when their beloved has been run through? Why would anyone cry when their pet has died, or when their family has gone?" He smiled a bit more and nuzzled the pale forehead of his wife's body. "It is because you love them so much that the thought of them not being there kills you a little inside, breaks your heart and makes you weep."

Arturia felt strange inside as she listened to the beautiful man speak to her. It was as though her own heart was breaking and she felt strange tears fall down her cheeks as she watched him.

"Now, if only my dear wife and her cousin would STOP CHATTING," grunted Keirnan irritably.

Donovan rolled his eyes and held out his hand. Ada's spirit was transformed into a ball of light and she watched it fly into his hand. He smiled faintly and pushed the ball of light into the body Ada before pulling out a potion and pouring it over her wound. The wound began healing before her, the clear liquid turning bright silver and then bright white light flashed from it.

"What is this potion you use?" gasped Arturia as she covered her eyes from the white light.

"Something my mother and my aunt help make for us to use when the body is so far gone that normal medicines can not bring it back," he said. He stood up and nodded to her. "Come with me now."

Arturia followed Donovan as he walked over to the crowd. She saw a very lovely young man, about her age, crouched low like a dog and leaning on his spear with his face half hidden in his arm. He was singing softly a strange tune that made her heart fall, if she had one. The very image of him was beautiful to behold and Arturia walked over and kissed his cheek impulsively. The young man jerked and touched his cheek, looking around. Arturia, by that time, had turned into a ball of light and gone into Donovan's hand. He silently made his way through the crowd of people and touched the ball of light to Arturia's body.

Bedivere had taken the arrows out of her body and had given her to her nephew to hold, who stroked her hair gently and kissed her forehead. "I'm glad to have met you, aunt," said Gawain with a grin. "You were a good woman."

Cuchulainn stood up, watching Donovan as he walked from the crowd. He had been taken out of his lament for Arturia by the feeling a girl kissing his cheek, like that of a fairy queen bestowing him a kiss of sweetness. He watched Donovan move away from the crowd and look over at him, smiling faintly and then fading away.

Then, there was a great cry from the middle of the crowd, Gawain's cry. "You're alive?! Everyone! Our Queen is alive!!"

Cuchulainn smiled faintly and attempted to move through everyone to see the newly resurrected queen, but found it most difficult. A few of his own men pulled him away and laughed joyously as they started singing about the defeat of the great king, picking him up as though he were nothing and parading him away from the crowd. He laughed heartily, happy that things had gone at least somewhat aright.

Gawain laughed and held his aunt close, rocking back and forth. "We were so worried for you, Aunt Arturia. We thought for certain you had died!"

"She did! But she came back to us!" cried Bedivere happily.

Arturia didn't have the strength to tell them about her bizarre adventure, so she resigned herself to being hugged and stroked and kissed by her comrades and her nephews. She sort of felt like a child being paraded about by happy parents who had always wanted one. For the first time, she felt genuinely happy inside.

* * *

Arturia awoke in her bed a few days later. She had been asleep the entire time, trying to gain back her strength. Avalon had stayed with her the entire time, lying right beside her with Excalibur inside of it. It was placed beside her upon Merlin's orders, though he could have just told them to put it on her table. As long as she was the master of it, it would protect her to the best of its ability and heal her wounds should the thing that wounded her be gone from the wound. She still remembered a little of the strange dream of walking among those many portals and seeing Death and then the men gathered around her, mourning her loss.

When she dressed herself, she was greeted in the main hall of her castle by all the men that she had fought with. Keirnan and his wife Ada stood side by side near the fire, snuggling against each other for warmth. Keirnan's sister was nearby, talking with some of her men. The Welsh commander was bandaged up and laughing, speaking in Welsh to his men as the Irishmen spoke avidly. She wondered where the blue haired young man had been, who had been weeping and singing for her, for she didn't see him in the hall. The men all turned to her and cried out as one, hurrying over to her and congratulating her on the victory, calling her genius for using the wasteland folk as a barrier for which Gilgamesh would be too repulsed to go near. It had only been a portion of her plan, but not all of it.

She finally caught a name floating about, the Irish in awe of their fair commander Cuchulainn who turned their hearts and sent them straight in as he too rushed in. So her Irish commander that she had met was indeed the famous Cuchulainn? But didn't Fergus and Conochbar both say he was her age?

She frowned as she listened to them chatter away, but finally had to go to the kitchen to find something to eat as the men had all already eaten. Merlin came in then and watched her. "You were dead," he said.

The cook looked from between Arturia and Merlin and smiled faintly. "Ah, she came back, though, just like our lord Jesus, a bit, aye?" said the older woman with a grin. Merlin chuckled and Arturia simply stared at her in confusion as she saw that the joke was at least received by Merlin. Then, she went off to cook Arturia something simple to eat.

"As I said, you were dead," said Merlin again, though softer this time, watching his pupil.

Arturia looked away from him. "I was near death, but Avalon saved me."

"No, you were dead. Avalon healed the body as you were not fully gone, but you were dead." Arturia looked up at him as he spoke and he sighed. "What sort of dream did you have?"

"I… dreamt of a man… death… telling me it wasn't my time. I saw the men gathered around me and joined my body," she said.

He sighed again and shook his head. "Truly, humans only see what they want to see," he muttered and left. Indeed, she had only spoken part of what she saw, for she wasn't certain of what she saw. All she knew was that the entire world seemed somehow a great deal bigger when she saw what she saw.

There was a bang of the main doors opening and the Irishmen all started calling out to the person who had walked in suddenly. She walked out quickly and saw Conochbar, covered in snow and panting. "He came? Hold on, one at a time! Who said he had come?" said Conochbar frantically to one of his countrymen.

"The hound, he came and he fair tore up the field!" laughed one of the men.

"Aye! And then he went into his war spasm and ripped them apart!" called another.

Conochbar seemed shocked at the last one. Arturia watched him carefully as she walked toward him slowly. "Where is he now?"

"He left! When he saw that the little queen had come back to us from the dead, he smiled and then just left!" said an older man.

"He said he was going back to train more," called another.

Arturia frowned. So the hound went back before greeting her properly? She didn't find it terribly rude, however, since she did interrupt his training to plead for his participation in the battle. She walked to Conochbar and smiled faintly at him. "King Conochbar, it is good to see you. Thank you for the men you sent to me. They were indeed needed, every single one. Especially Cuchulainn."

Conochbar stuttered for a moment before smiled sheepishly at her. "Ah, yes, you're welcome, Queen Arturia." He bowed and looked to his men as they all grinned. Arturia smiled faintly and went on back to the kitchen.

When next she saw Conochbar, he was far more collected and was telling her that trouble was brewing in Ulster, that Cuchulainn's chosen bride was being forced to marry someone else while the boy was away and that all the men refused her hand after they realized she was the one that Cuchulainn was choosing to marry. Her father finally locked her up and told her to never leave and this was distressing him for he knew there would be a battle when Cuchulainn came back from Skye to claim his bride.

Arturia listened and frowned faintly, somewhat confused. Why would Conochbar still call the man "boy" when he was old enough to be Conochbar's age? What was this war spasm that she heard the men say Cuchulainn went into on the battle field?

Everything was so confusing and she didn't feel like trying to question the man, for he had worse troubles on his hands. Nobles fighting was a foul thing to try to calm, especially over marital affairs.

And so, she left him to his meal and let him sleep in her castle for the night. In the morning, Conochbar left with his men, the Welsh lord left with his men and the Sinclairs and MacLeods left as well. Soon, all was quiet at Camelot. The people in the village celebrated their brave queen for her rallying up the forces of all of the four kingdoms and defeating their greatest foe yet to date. Arturia allowed a small celebration to be held in her castle for her knights and soldiers. She did give a ceremony to actually knight her knights during the celebration. Gawain, Agravaine, Gaheris and Bedivere were her four knights that would start her counsel of knights.

She commissioned a wood worker to build a table that would be round for her counsel chamber, where her knights would be equal to her so she might better judge each situation they would discuss, and so she received the table soon after the celebration.

Gawain looked upon the table with narrowed eyes. "Why is it…. Round?"

"No head and no end. Everyone has a say as everyone will be equal to me," said Arturia.

Bedivere was very pleased by his queen. "Our lady is intelligent, Gawain, very smart and clever indeed."

Gawain snorted and touched the table. "Equal to the queen, eh? So we get a say in all things?"

"Yes. I wanted my knights to be closer to me than the soldiers. That was why I was so selective of you four. Agravaine and Gaheris bring to me great joy as do Bedivere and Gawain. All have minds that are different from the others and all have opinions I wish to know." She sat down in her place and placed her chin on her hands. "Here, we will be better judges of what we should do should such a problem exist that we must come here to discuss it."

Bedivere smiled warmly toward his queen and sat down next to her. "I am glad to serve you, Queen Arturia. You are brave on the battlefield and in practice; you show a good mind when plotting a battle and think far ahead your enemy."

Arturia blushed faintly and looked away. "I'm glad you think so, Bedwyr."

Once again, Arturia had used his true name, a sign of affection toward him he felt, for she only did it when she wanted to be more personal toward him. Gawain sat on the other side of her and grinned. "My cousin is smart because she doesn't have the same dad as mum does," he chuckled.

"Gawain, you should be nicer toward your grandfather. My father was a cruel, selfish man, someone I hope to never be," said Arturia. "Be thankful for your lineage, for it is a good one."

Gawain eyed his aunt with a soft expression and nodded. He remembered the night when she slept in his home. He remembered her huddled under the blankets, whimpering for her mother to gaze upon her, knowing she wouldn't. His mother had been loved because she was the child of his grandfather. His aunt, however, had been shunned and he had not known about her until he had inquired about his mother's other siblings and then had to coax out that Arturia was indeed his aunt from another man who forced himself upon his grandmother with the appearance of his grandfather.

Bedivere watched Gawain for a moment, narrowing his pale eyes at the nephew of his queen. Gawain was a hard one to judge, for his valor was true, but he could be careless. He also put up the visage of a happy-go-lucky young man while things brewed inside of him that never let anyone know. Something had occurred the night when they stayed at Cannick manor and Bedivere knew that it had something to do with Gawain being in Arturia's room while she slept. He had seen the young man leave when he looked out of his room to find who had entered Arturia's. The look on the young man's face was a serious one, one of pity and of sadness. What had he heard or seen while he was inside his aunt's room?

When things began to settle down, Arturia's true job started. She started ruling over diputes among her villagers, her nobles and her soldiers. She did the various jobs that a king would have to do and did it with all of her being. She had been groomed since a child to become king of all the land and so she did exactly that.

* * *

Gilgamesh was welcomed home to his palace in Babylon. His men told of how hard he fought, how mesmerizing he had been on the battle field, but the truth was that they could not defeat the foreigners and so they had failed miserably with considerable losses on their side. He had ordered a retreat rather than fighting to the death as the people had done and so the people felt their king a coward. He had been cowardly on the field, however, for he ran from lepers. However, admittedly, all the men ran because he told them that lepers were going to fight them.

The people, outraged that their king had run from a battle, were coming to him, near rioting, that he should battle the foreigners again, that they should do what he had set out to do originally, but he could not. The woman kept a leper colony as a barrier to him and that thought alone caused him to quiver. He was immortal until he grew sick or was killed with a weapon so dangerous that nothing could survive it. With that in mind, becoming a leper for thousands of years did not appeal to him at all.

The bound concubines were not very receiving of him, either, for they didn't want children of a cowardly king. It did not matter, for he hated the lot of them anyway. They were simply a part of the package when he made himself king. He was offered these women to be his wives so he would produce heirs, and he had produced a couple, but they all offended him with their filthy bodies and their horrible personalities. Each one was nasty and didn't appeal to him at all. None of them were educated, none of them could even rouse his interest except mildly and none of them really was worth the trouble they caused him.

There was one; he had not tried, yet, however. She was a noblewoman from the Far East, China. She was not beautiful beyond his wildest imagination, no, Arturia had been that. She had a rather pointed face that was always frowning. She took more than her fair share of wealth and demanded she had the finest silk to make for her strange clothing. She put her long black hair up in a strange style with ivory and ebony combs laced with the pearlescent insides of sea shells and dangling beads of red and gold. She kept her hands hidden underneath sheer sleeves of her robes and hid her face from him with a fan or her sleeve whenever he happened to be nearby. The only thing he could ever see of her face on a daily basis were those almond shaped gold eyes of hers, which were the usually narrowed in suspicion toward the people around her. She had been an offering from the emperor of China to him to show his support of Gilgamesh being such a strong king.

He didn't even remember her name. He only knew her at first glance because she was so obviously hard to miss. None of the other women dressed in such clothes as hers, none of them put their hair up in such wild ways. The other women ranged in the way they dressed. The more conservative ones, most likely coming from families of the old religion, dressed from head to toe with long veils over their hair and clothing that showed very little skin, but did seem pretty with the patterning on them. The others were usually dressed in little clothing, their hair unbound and uncovered and wearing the finest gold they could buy with the money they had for allowances. He himself wore very little usually, wearing a white or red or blue cloth around his waist that he would belt with a gold belt. His chest was usually bare and was covered in red lines that were his tattoos from when he ruled Babylon before.

He was fairly apathetic to the concerns of the people, as well, when they came to him to sort out differences of opinion and take payment as well as many other things that had to do with ruling a country. His advisors would take over, as they wanted to in the first place, and he would go into his room and sulk.

It was on a rather odd day for him, deciding that he should just walk the halls of his palace to rid his head of his terrible defeat against the forces of the Briton countries, that he saw the strange concubine from China opposite of him in the hall. He eyed her with annoyance and crossed his arms over his well muscled chest. She beckoned him with an unveiled hand. He saw her nails were rather long, though not overly so. "What is it, concubine?"

She hid her face behind a fan and beckoned him silently once more, gold bangles on her wrist showed she had indeed begun to assimilate some of his country's culture, for they were locally made. He had seen the same design on all his concubines. He walked toward her and towered over her imperiously. "What is it you want?" he said, unamused by her being so silent.

She took his hand and blushed faintly as she did so, pulling him down the hall. He let her lead him to what seemed to be her room before he snapped his arm away from her. "What is it you want from me, woman?" he growled.

She moved to the door to close it and lock it, but he slapped the fan from her hand angrily and pulled her away from the door. He closed it himself and leaned against it with her against him so she wouldn't be able to move. "Stop with that blasted fan. I hate not seeing someone's face when they look at me!"

She looked up at him indignantly, glaring much like Arturia glared at him, cold and doll like. He blinked at her in surprise. His concubine and the woman he wanted to marry were rather similar in their dour expressions, except hers was more sour than cold. She was indeed very pale skinned and her face was not beautiful, but pleasant enough. Her ears stuck out slightly, making her resemble a monkey a little. Her face and lips were painted, her face powdered and lips reddened. "Let me lock it, please," she said, unphased by his show of power.

He raised an eyebrow and let go of her, moving aside slightly so she could get by. What sort of woman could look at him and act as though she were bored to tears and irritated he wasn't following her orders? The only one that had come to mind was Arturia and she was thousands of miles away. She locked the door behind him and moved away, moving to pick up her fan.

"I said don't hide your blasted face behind that fan again. I want to see your face when you speak to me," he said.

She picked it up and stowed it away inside her robe. She then calmly looked at him and clasped her hands together under the overly long sleeves of her robe. "I have important information for my lord." With that, she bowed down to the ground, sitting on her knees with her head bowed.

Gilgamesh was surprised by the young woman. She showed much practice in dealing with rulers and groomed to be the wife of a noble with every movement she made. He smirked faintly and relaxed against the door, watching her. "And what could a concubine bound to me have to tell me that would be so important? Having problems with your weird hair?"

She didn't budge, nor twitch. "You are being conspired against, my lord. Your people loathe you for coming back a failure and call you a coward for not pressing further through the leper colony. I, however, understand why you did not. No one would want to, with that filth in front of them. It would be suicide. We have many lepers in China and they are outcasts as well, kept at the border to keep away from the main cities and keep others from coming in. It is a terrible disease and would cause my lord to fall apart slowly, piece by piece. I do not think I could stand to see my lord suffer such a fate."

"What is your name, concubine?" asked Gilgamesh, interested now in this young woman.

"Mei," she said.

"So, tell me, Mei," he said softly, "What is it you hear whilst you walk through the halls of my palace and in the streets while you shop?"

She looked up at him finally and gazed at him with those gold eyes of hers. "The people have begun to form a resistance group. They whisper in the halls of your own palace, whisper on the street… They are planning on poisoning you at supper, my lord, so that you would be incapacitated. Then, they will come in and behead you and put your head on a pike outside the walls of the palace for the people to throw rotten cabbage at."

Gilgamesh stiffened and looked around. "Who did you hear this from, Mei?" He pulled her up so she would be closer to him and smelled her. She smelled of something foreign to him, flowers that he had not smelled for many years.

She gazed up at him through her dark lashes. "Your advisors. They are the ones I heard. They will poison your supper and kill you with everyone watching and you will be unable to do anything about them had it not been for me saying something to you, my lord."

"And **why** should I believe you, Mei?" he hissed, holding her wrist tighter in his hand. He blinked when he felt something on her arm and pulled her tighter against him, moving her arm up so he could see what he felt. He pushed her long sleeve down as she gave a small protest and saw a contraption that was spring loaded. It held a strange sort of knife on it and he gathered that when she moved her hand a certain way, the knife would dart into her hand and she could then use it. "Now isn't this interesting. A woman with assassin's gear. **Why** should I trust you when you so **clearly** look as though you were an **assassin**?"

"It was how I was taught as a child. I was taught the ways of the assassins, using knives and daggers as my main weapons to kill my opponents deftly and with little noise," she said softly. "You have no reason to trust me after seeing these; however, I do speak the truth."

"But why would you wish to save my life? Wouldn't that give you a chance to go back home to your country when I am dead? Especially with the skills you say you have…"

"I do not wish to go back, though this place is ugly and repugnant with its overbearing heat and overbearing men," she said. "However, I have grown," she said and then paused, blushing faintly and looking away, "to be very fond of my lord. He is beautiful and strong, bold and makes my cheeks grow hot when I see him walking down the hallway. He does not notice me, for I do not usually want to be noticed, however… I have wanted my lord to notice me now for since he came back from that cold north land."

It was the first time since he had met Arturia that a woman didn't repulse him like the natives did. She seemed very intelligent with how she spoke and did not flinch at his presence. He lowered his gaze to her painted lips and moved closer, licking them slowly. While he could taste the bitterness of the paint on her lips, he could also taste the tea she had been drinking before coming to see him. She flushed scarlet as he tasted her lips and looked very displeased when he moved her away from him, too confused by his own thoughts. While he wanted to spend the time he was having with her, he needed to deal with the usurping advisors. He smirked when he came up with an idea. "I'll send word to you when I want you to come to me in my quarters," he said softly. Then, he gave her his most charming smile and walked out, for some reason feeling a lot better than he had before. The next task was to get rid of his little problem and then he could relax with this very interesting concubine!


	14. Chapter Thirteen

_**A/N: aaaaaah and yes, Mei is Mai from Avatar. I'm working on a site to put all this up on, so hang tight and it'll be up soon. Also, on another note, my birthday is October 9**__**th**__**, so much love to ME. XD **_

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

The table was set for Gilgamesh and his concubines, those that would dine with him in the first place anyway. Mei sat in a chair not too far from Gilgamesh's large chair at the head of the table. His bound concubines who had given birth to his children so far sat closer to him. There were two. One was a woman of the old religion, wearing her hair bound back in a braid and hidden under a veil of relatively sheer lavender silk. She was a pretty woman, green eyes sparkling like gems from behind black kohl around her eyes. His daughter by the woman was also a very pretty little girl. She had his red eyes, however, as he expected. Her hair was light brown and was also tied back in a braid behind her head.

The other concubine that birthed him a child was also a fairly pretty woman, though she had black hair and fairer skin than that of the other woman. Her eyes were a dark brown and her mouth was as pink as the slight flush in her cheeks when she caught him looking at her. She too had bore him a daughter, again with his red eyes, signifying the god blood in her veins, and her hair was a dark brown, almost black. She had a rosy complexion, rosy cheeks and rosy mouth, smiling happily up at her father when she looked over. Her mother was a woman of the old religion as well, wearing a veil over her hair like the other woman. He tried to remember their names, for he had not been with them for a long time, though he had been with his daughters occasionally, giving them little gifts like dolls or trinkets.

He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. He had had so many women in his life in his past that those in the present sort of didn't interest him. In fact, aside from Mei and these other two women, the lot of them didn't interest him at all. These two women angered him greatly, however, because they didn't do much but cringe at the sight of him whenever he came near. He was a gentle lover! At least he thought he was, which was all that needed to be said. He remembered bedding the women after the ceremony binding them to him as his "wives". The black haired woman wouldn't even look at him, staring straight at the ground and then clenched her eyes shut and whimpered when he took her to bed. It was as though she didn't even want what he had to offer! She hadn't had that blasted surgery done to her that he abolished when he took the throne, she could **feel** pleasure, but why would she sit there like a scared rabbit?!

And the brown haired woman. When he took her to bed, she very straightly told him to get out. It took a couple of nights just to bed her, but when he had, she too wouldn't look at him or do anything more than whimper and cringe at the sight of him. He wasn't repulsive and he wasn't hard on the women unless they angered him, so why did they act as though he had no right to touch them?!

Asma! Asma was the name of the brown haired woman. Fathia was the name of the black haired woman. His daughter by Asma was Imani and the daughter by Fathia was Jalila. He grinned in triumph that he had managed to remember his own children's names and the names of their mothers. That would be rather necessary should he introduce them.

Mei looked over at him, gold eyes behind a curtain of black lashes. Her eyes were lined in black as well, though it was a more painted look rather than the slight line around Asma's green eyes. For a moment, he forgot that tonight was the night that his men were going to poison him, or attempt to.

Asma caught him looking at her and she glared at him, looking away hotly with her tanned cheeks darkening. Imani blinked up at her mother and then looked over at Gilgamesh, smiling. "Daddy, why are you not eating? Mama says that if you waste food, you do the aminals that were made for us to eat a disservice!"

Gilgamesh eyed his daughter with a rather confused look. He realized she meant "animals" instead of what she said and rubbed his forehead. "It's animals, Imani."

She grinned broadly at him, ruby eyes shining brightly. "Uh huh! Aminals!"

Gilgamesh stared for a moment before he realized his daughter was being cute. By that time, Jalila started giggling and tossed a piece of bread at her sister from across the table and Fathia attempted to hide her face behind her veil to keep from being seen chuckling. He smirked and sat up arrogantly. "Of course! Aminals! I should have known better! HAH! My Imani is a genius!"

Asma didn't seem amused, however. She shot him a glare and stabbed her meat with her fork. "Imani, don't speak during dinner please. Don't encourage the king's behavior."

Imani made a face and went back to eating. Mei looked to Gilgamesh and blushed faintly and looked to her plate. She wasn't eating either. He wondered, then, if indeed the women would be saved from poisoning or if all of them were to be poisoned and not just him. Mei stood up and bowed to Gilgamesh, the sticks in her hair, dangling beads hanging from them, clinked as she did so. "I will be in my quarters, my lord. I am not hungry."

Imani watched her leave as Asma did as well. Asma had a strange look on her face that Gilgamesh couldn't place. Was she jealous of the looks he was giving Mei? He smirked deviously at the thought. He also entertained the thought of driving out the bunch of women he didn't like and just keeping Asma, Fathia and Mei as his concubines. Gilgamesh was the king of all, and what he didn't like didn't stay. Again, his grin grew larger. He had been keeping them because they were offered, but now that he knew the lot of them were a bunch of social climbing vultures, he could be rid of them in a hurry.

Just then, Imani whimpered. "Mama, my tummy hurts."

Asma, too, looked very pale as she held a hand over her mouth. Gilgamesh's heart sank. Fathia also became very white, as did Jalila. The other women began to groan and fall out of their chairs, some of them choking and holding their throats. He heard men coming up behind him as if on cue to finish them all off. He looked to little Imani and Jalila and anger grew inside him. No one touched what was his, no one tried to destroy what was his either. **No one**!

"Lord Gilgamesh, king of all that was once mighty, your time has come!" said one of his advisors.

Gilgamesh stood up and turned calmly toward them, glaring at them all coldly. "You think that doing this will weaken me? Do you think by poisoning the entire batch of dinner that you can kill me or indeed incapacitate me?"

"He didn't eat it!" cried a short, fat, advisor.

The guards turned and aimed arrows and pulled out their swords. They were even in on this whole mass murder. Red light burst to life in the room and great invisible doors opened behind him. A dagger flew at him and was blocked by swords from his dimensional treasury. "Enough of this."

A dagger hit his side and he dropped to a knee in pain, eyes wide. How could someone surprise him so?! He looked to one of the guards and growled. The advisors grinned. "You see.. we plan on killing not only you, but ridding your seed from this place, including the unfortunate ladies you may have impregnated."

A rain of light fell upon the advisors. They shielded themselves with the finest of his armory shields. He couldn't direct the weapons in his treasury in more than one direction, which left him exposed from his sides and back. An arrow shot into his shoulder and his leg. He dropped to the ground on both knees, crying out in pain. Damn it! He was the great king Gilgamesh! He ripped the dagger and arrows from him and threw them aside. He shot swords one by one at those shooting at him and was hit again in the side.

Just then, a flash of black hair and the soft sound of silk ran in. He smelled the jasmine perfume and knew who it was. Men dropped on the sides, small knives flying from her as though she were inhuman herself. He ripped the arrow from his side and threw it at the men, getting one in the eye. Asma and Imani fell to the floor just before Fathia and Jalila did. With the guards being taken care of, Gilgamesh pulled out his Ea and let the pillars power up. The advisors saw it and cringed in horror, trying to run, but were still being pummeled by the weapons from his treasury. "Filthy mongrels! You never touch what are the king's personal possessions!" He swung Ea at them and watched in satisfaction as the men were obliterated, torn apart on the spot by the swirling ripples of air, as well as several walls behind them.

Gilgamesh dropped to his knees once more, sweating and turning pale. Blood dripped profusely from his wounds as he held himself up with his sword. Mei ran over from gutting one of the guards and pulled him up against her. "My lord!!"

Gilamesh growled and made Ea go back into the treasury and pulled out a phial. He handed it to Mei and snarled. "Give it to them! NOW!"

Mei nodded and ran to the childrens' sides first, giving them a drop of the potion each and then gave the mothers the potion. Their color began returning slowly as Mei ran over to the other women. Some were already dead. Half the women were left and recovered slowly when Mei gave them the potion. When Mei returned to Gilgamesh's side, he was turning white and panting heavily. He groped inside his treasury and pulled out another phial and dropped it, though it did not smash on the ground. Mei ran over to her king and knelt down beside him. "My lord, what is it you need?" she asked.

"Potion. Healing. Need to take it," he gasped. "DAMN IT!! NO ONE GETS THE BETTER OF ME!!" he snarled and tried to pick it up and landed on his back. He cried out in pain and held his stomach, gritting his teeth.

Mei watched her king with a look of sheer horror. He was dying! She grabbed up the phial and poured what she could hold into her mouth and then administered it to Gilgamesh. His mouth opened to her and she felt his tongue dart into her mouth, stealing the liquid from her greedily. He growled and gripped her hard with one of his hands behind her head, digging into her hair. She could do little else than feel his mouth suck the very life from her body. Her heart thumped hard in her chest as he let her move away from him slightly, before having her lip bitten by his teeth. It was almost painful how he seemed to hold her in place and chew on her like a cannibal.

After a moment, Gilgamesh let go of Mei and laid his head back against the marble floor, gazing up at her. She blushed scarlet and touched her lip, the rouge having been smeared on her face and her mouth was swollen from his kiss. His lips were also swollen, looking far more kissable than they had previously. His color was still pale, he was still sweating, but she saw that his wounds were less severe, the bleeding having stopped and the wounds healing quickly.

"Good… job," he panted. "For a woman."

Mei gave him a cold glare as he smirked. He was teasing her! "You didn't do badly yourself, my lord," she said softly and moved away from him.

Asma sat up slowly and looked around. She pulled up Imani and looked frantically at Gilgamesh. "My lord!" she cried and moved over to him as quickly as she could while holding her daughter to her. She looked to Mei and then looked away. "How is he?"

"Glad to see you act as though you care, Asma," he grunted, indignantly looking up at the green eyed concubine of his.

She blushed and gasped, looking away and holding Imani to her as she puffed her cheeks in irritation. "My concern for you is only because you are my husband and nothing else."

"As I thought, you care little of me," he mumbled and closed his eyes. "Argh, I'm getting rid of these wretched women who plague me. I'm tired of these vultures coming to me for more money and more still to fund their little affairs and whatever else."

Asma went pale once more and glared hotly at Gilgamesh in horror. Mei seemed unphased by what he said, though Fathia went white and nuzzled her daughter's hair. "So we are to be dismissed as well?" said Asma indignantly, putting on the most imperious look he had ever come from her. "We bare your children and you turn us out?"

"Will you be quiet, Asma? You and Fathia and Imani and Jalila are staying. You're the only ones who don't complain so often as the others!" grunted Gilgamesh.

Fathia snapped her head over toward her king with surprise written all over her face. Jalila watched Gilgamesh and smiled weakly. "Daddy is going to let me and mama stay, then?"

Gilgamesh grunted. Too many questions! "Of course! Now be quiet! My head is hurting!"

Mei smiled faintly as she watched him lay back and close his eyes. When she heard him snoring lightly, his mouth open slightly and looking a little stupid, she smiled a little more and kissed his forehead and had Asma and Fathia help her get him to his room as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a chore, as he was a bit heavy, however, the women didn't want him sleeping on the stone floor like some street person. "He always snores so loudly," said Asma.

"He scares me," said Fathia softly, "He's like a great monster when he came in to bed me. Not in THAT area, but…I'm afraid if I do something wrong that he'll turn me out and send me back to my father unable to be a bride for anyone else."

"I don't think he's that cruel," said Mei. The women looked at her in surprise. "He has yet to bed me, but I have been watching him silently for many months now. I grew up among noble men, so I know how they tend to act and… if you watch him closely enough… you can see he has a heart and actually cares. He's selfish and arrogant, but he does care about what he deems his possessions. We are that."

Asma and Fathia looked to each other and then to Mei for a moment. Then, Fathia blushed faintly and looked down at Gilgamesh. She leaned down and kissed him gently and moved away quickly. Asma gazed at him with a far softer expression on her face than she had before and kissed him as well, her kiss lingering for a moment. Then, she stood and moved away to join Fathia at the door. Mei looked at Gilgamesh and stroked his hair gently. "I will stay with him this night, Asma… Fathia. Please go attend to your daughters, for I am certain they are scared and want to be with their mothers."

Asma again held a strange expression on her face as she watched Mei. "I don't like being a part of a group, a harem. It is an old custom, that I know, but I don't like it. However, Mei of China, I do not think I mind sharing him with you and Fathia should that be what he chooses. Fathia is a good, gentle woman and you… are a very brave woman."

Mei gazed at Asma for a moment. "And you are a very brittle woman, but your heart is good and warm."

Asma blushed faintly and bowed her head toward Mei and took Fathia by her shoulders and walked out. Mei took the sticks and combs from her hair and laid them on a table. She took the outer robe of her dress off and laid it aside as well. Then, she laid down next to Gilgamesh in the sheer under robe she wore and pulled the sheet over them both, snuggling against his side as her black hair fanned out over the bed. "I love you," she whispered against his chest and fell asleep.

* * *

Arturia heard a commotion outside her castle. She looked out her window to see a strange sight. One of her villagers, one of the wealthy ones, was crawling out with a large wound on his back that was bleeding horribly. Several other wounds littered his body as well; all of them stab wounds as though from a sword. Men ran over as the man's wife screamed in horror. "My husband! He's been killed! That slave! That slave did it!"

"Which slave, madam?" asked one of the men.

"He's a foreign boy, teen-aged and has red hair. His face is odd too!" cried the man's wife.

Arturia put her cloak on and walked down the stairs to the kitchen door. One of her villagers had been wounded ans she would know why. As she made her way toward the crime scene, however, she stopped as she caught sight of something lying in the snow. It was a boy, not more than fifteen or sixteen, the same age as her, with slightly tanned skin and red-brown hair that was somewhat shaggy. He was dirty and naked, his body littered with scars from a whip. His hands and feet were growing red from the cold and would start to grow frost bitten if she did nothing for him. She took her cloak off and laid it over him with a swish and picked him up. He was half starved and shivering as he nuzzled into her. Still, his body was very muscled from the hard work he had to endure.

She took him up to her room and laid him on her bed. Then, she went to her head maidservant and requested food and an extra bed to be made for him as well as a warm bath to be drawn. The maidservant ran off and did as her queen bid as Arturia returned to her bedroom and rubbed the body's body back to life. His face was indeed odd looking. It looked Asian, and yet it had a certain quality to it that made him look more like he was bred from a Caucasian as well. It was rounded with youth, though she saw a strong jaw and chin, his nose a little larger than that of an Asian man and his eyes wider as well. As strange looking as he was, he was not entirely unpleasant to gaze upon. If he was cleaned up, Arturia supposed he might be very handsome indeed, especially when he grew into that jaw and chin of his.

The maidservant came in and laid a tray of food on the table and then went about drawing a bath next to the fireplace. The boy opened his eyes and Arturia saw that they were a rich hazel color. "Welcome to the land of the living, boy," she said. The boy looked up at her in fear and attempted to move away, though his arms and legs seemed to fail him. She continued to rub them and unclenched his fists slowly. "You were almost frost bitten," she said. "If I had not found you, I would have had to have my men cut off your hands and feet."

The boy squirmed more, afraid of her. "You killed one of my people," she said, "Did he do something that made you want him dead?"

The boy squirmed more and shoved at her when his fingers could move. "Iei! Iei!" then, he started yelping a long string of nonsense together that she couldn't understand. It wasn't a language she knew. She could understand a little Gaelic and a little Scots and a little Welsh, but this language was none of this. She could even understand French and German to an extent, but this was not even like those either.

She felt his manhood start to rise against her leg and realized why he was so frightened of her. It took a moment for her to remember that he was the same age as her and that he was of the marrying age when young men were roaming about with as many women as they could have until they were tied to one. Had it been a year since her coronation already? It felt so long ago. No, it was more than a year. She was sixteen and going on seventeen since she spent several months trying to gather the forces of Briton together and fought Gilgamesh and the men of Babylon and forced them back off her island. She had not chosen a man to marry yet and she was by now considered almost an old maid. She still had a few years before they would begin to call her that; however, she knew she wouldn't age physically from the day she took Avalon.

She moved away from the young man as he covered himself with her cloak and looked away in embarrassment. "Eat," she said, watching him look over at her in surprise, "Take in sustenance." She sighed when he didn't seem to understand. She picked up the tray of food and shoved it at him. "EAT."

The boy grabbed the tray and stared at her, blushing faintly, though that could have been from the cold. He still didn't seem to understand, but he knew she was giving him food to eat, so he ate slowly, moving to a table and sitting down with the tray. She sat down opposite him and watched him eat. "Do you speak English?" she asked.

The young man looked up; some of his stew dripping off his chin. "Do you speak English?" Again the boy simply stared at her as though she had another head. "English. Do you speak it or am I simply flapping my mouth at you?" She was beginning to become very testy.

The boy watched her and looked a little afraid when she began to become irritated. She calmed down a little and tried again. "Name. Do you have a name?" She pointed to herself and nodded. "Arturia. You?" She motioned toward him and he just looked at her as though she were trying to do something weird to him. She pointed herself once more and nodded. "Arturia," she said and then pointed to him once more, "You?"

The young man seemed to get it finally as he spoke. "Emiyashirou." It had come out in a long string once more.

Arturia frowned. "Emiyashirou?" she asked as she repeated what he had said.

The young man frowned a moment and shook his head. "Emiya shirou."

"Emiya, then?" she asked.

He shook his head once more. "Emiya shirou."

"Emiya." The young man took this as what it was; a final statement of what she would call him from now on, as she was glaring at him slightly because he was frustrating her.

"Emiya," she said once she had calmed herself once more. She stood and walked over to the tub next to the fire that the maidservant had finished filling. "Clean yourself here."

"Furo," said Emiya.

"What?" Once more, Emiya was speaking in that weird moon language of his. That was the only to describe the bizarreness of his language. "Bath."

"Furo," he said as he pointed to the tub.

Arturia rubbed her head and walked over to her bed. "Take your bath and when you're done, I will have some clothes for you as well as someone to groom that awful hair of yours." Then, she straightened the bed and went out to get some clothes for Emiya.

Emiya watched her leave and rubbed his face a bit. He didn't understand a word of what she said and she scared him a little for he knew she was the queen of this strange frozen land. That she took him in made him suspicious and that she was offering him food and a bath made him less so. Was the queen of this land uncaring that he was not full blood Japanese or full blood white like her people were? He smelled her perfume from the cloak and blushed faintly as he pulled it closer to him. She must be a very kind woman to leave him with her cloak to stay warm with while he had a bath and dinner. A very good woman to be so kind to a slave who killed his own master.

* * *

Gilgamesh woke to the smell of jasmine. He felt long hair draped over his arm and a warm, soft body pressed against his side. He groaned at the feeling of it and smirked. It was Mei, the Chinese concubine of his. She had saved his life and helped save the lives of his other concubines with her swift feet and swift hands and swift mind. She really was a very clever woman.

He lifted his hand and wrapped his fingers over her shoulder. As he moved his head, he found that she was wearing only her sheer silk under robe. He also saw that it was stained with his blood. They would have to burn her clothes and have another set made for her to replace it, however, he would have to send out for the cloth. His treasury held many things, but not bolts of cloth for clothes. It would be a fitting gift to a woman who so deftly saved his life and the life of many others.

He moved the cloth from her shoulder slowly and gazed at the milky skin beneath it. She stirred and opened those gold eyes to meet his with mild surprise. It went away and was back to her usual stoic mask as he sat up on an elbow and held her in the crook of his arm as he gazed down at her. "So you came to me," he asked, smirking.

She nodded. "Yes, I did, my lord. You had bid for me to come to your bed before and I honored that."

He smirked a bit more and used his free hand to crook a finger in the front of her robe and pull it away from her breasts. She was small breasted, but, as he had seen over in the Far East, most of their women were small and had small chests. Asma had larger and Fathia had slightly smaller than Asma. The other women had far larger bodies than all three and made him sometimes think of cattle or big fat chickens squawking. He rubbed the tip of one of her breasts as she looked up at him, her gaze softening. She simply watched him as he made her nipple bud under his thumb and then pinch it. She moaned and nuzzled her head against his shoulder as one of her hands came up to his chest. She still wore the contraptions on the insides of her arms. She must not have remembered to take them off or felt someone might come in the night while he slept.

"You like that, do you?" he smirked.

She blushed faintly and rubbed his chest before hooking her arm around his neck and pulling him down. He continued to pinch and twist her nipple gently as he was pulled down and kissed her hungrily. She moaned from her throat, almost purring like a cat as he kissed her, his tongue darting into her mouth once more to feel the depths he felt when she administered the healing potion to him before. He rubbed her breast with his much larger hand and felt her arch her back, pushing the small breast into his hand further. She wrapped a soft leg around his hip and pulled him further onto her body. "I want you to love me," she said softly against his hot mouth. She panted slightly as he gazed at her. "Make love to me, my husband."

"So you accept me as your husband?" The devious grin on his face forced her to frown disapprovingly at him. He rolled his eyes and pecked her lips.

"Yes, of course I do. I am already bound to you, as are the other ladies." She didn't quite understand his enthusiasm.

He nibbled at her lip and smirked, rubbing the other breast until the nipple budded and began twisting it as well. Her eyes slid shut and she moaned a throaty purr once more. "I ask again, do you accept me as your lord and husband?"

Mei nodded and looked at Gilgamesh in irritation. "Yes, of course I do," she grumbled.

Gilgameh pulled her under him, wrapping her legs around his waist as he kissed over her neck and down between her breasts, flicking his tongue out against her flesh. "Good, because I don't like women who cringe when I make love to them," he said. With that, he began a full onslaught on her senses that had her reeling. He built her up and then pulled away to pull off his clothes and then built her up once more when he entered her. Sure thrusts into her hot body caused her to rise quickly to his tirade. She was practically screaming as he pulled her over the edge with him and released his seed into her. Then, they laid together on his plush bed and silk sheets, entangled in each other's arms.

Once more, Gilgamesh heard her whisper against his chest. "I love you," she said in a voice that was barely audible, "Gilgamesh."


	15. Chapter Fourteen

_**A/N: aaaaah and here we are again. Time to run again:3**_

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

Gilgamesh sat upon his throne carelessly, sneering at the advisors who some how managed to escape being killed. They cowered before him as Mei sat on one side of him, hands in her lap, stuffed up her voluminous sleeves. Asma glared imperiously at them as Fathia leaned a little closer to Gilgamesh. "You attempted to kill the king's children and the king's women, to take over the king's position for yourselves. And your rebel group has been flushed out in the night by my dear Mei here." Mei smirked faintly at the men, her cold smile sending shivers down the men's spines.

"Please have mercy on us! Please!" cried one of the men.

Gilgamesh snorted and stood up, towering over them. "No, my king. Allow me." Asma came forward, her red veil covering her brown hair and complimented her eyes. Her dress was even red, trimmed in gold thread. The glare she was fixing on the men was a murderous one. Gilgamesh wanted to argue, but the look she gave him made his heart jump slightly. What was it about these women that caused him to lose himself?! He was Gilgamesh, the great king of Babylon, born of the gods and ruled as a god for thousands of years before now!

A thought occurred to him. The rebels wronged him by attacking his family; however, it was the women who were truly wronged for they were the ones who were poisoned and not him. He smirked deviously and turned to the men as their rebel companions were forced in by a loyal group of soldiers handpicked by Mei. "You know, I think I might just let the ladies take care of this in their own ways. You attacked my family, yes, however, you attacked them **FIRST**." He smirked even more and caused one of the men to start crying like a baby. "I'll let the women handle this one. Fathia. That means you, as well, for you were in this also."

Fathia blushed faintly and moved out from behind the throne. As he walked closer, she looked away and hid her face behind a veil. He grabbed her wrist and looked at her from the side of his vision. "You are a royal concubine, Fathia, bound to me as a wife would be bound to a husband. For once, act like a queen and not the cowed daughter of a merchant." Then, he walked to his throne and sat upon it, once again careless, but assessing the actions of his women. Mei stood and walked over as well, her hands still stuffed up inside of her sleeves.

Fathia straightened and looked over at Gilgamesh, the white veil showing her black hair slightly, her dark blue dress trimmed in silver to contrast. She turned and looked to her attackers and those who wished her and her daughter dead and straightened. He was right. By all accounts, she was only a step down from being a **queen**. If he chose one of them to serve as head wife, that wife would be queen and they would still be bound to him as wives would be. She looked at the men forced before her and the other two wives and pulled her veil off slowly. Her long black hair was bound back tightly in a braid as she had always done since her mother did her hair for her. She pulled the tie from it and let her black hair fan out. The men in front of her simply stared at her. A few of them spat at her. Gilgamesh shot to his feet, but Asma held up a hand.

"I am Fathia, daughter of Adnan, a lowly merchant in Umm Qasr, and a Spanish woman, Yasma. I was given to my king as a gift for his taking over Babylon. I have lived for most of my life not voicing… anything… of what I feel about things, for my father always said women were to be seen and not heard." Fathia's cheeks were rosy with anger as she fought to keep herself from losing her nerve. "Well, I shall be heard by you! You have attempted to harm not only my king, but my daughter, Jalila! You attempted to harm my 'sisters' and kill them! You have done all this to rid yourself of a king who has brought the tribes together again and let them prosper!"

She grabbed the sword off of one of the guards and sliced off the head of the one who was closest to her that had spat on her. "NO MORE! I will tolerate NO MORE of this!" she cried.

Asma held up her hand and Fathia looked over, puzzled. She was shaking visibly and looked away from Asma as she held the veil up to her face and clenched her eyes shut, sniffling silently as her shoulders shook. Asma, watching the other woman, nodded and then looked to the men gathered before her. "For those who don't seem to remember, I am the daughter of the former ruler of this land, the once great Ghazi. When this king came in and took over, I was furious and am still angry with him for it, however, I see the heart he has and know that he can be good." She pulled the veil off her hair and it was already unbound underneath, her long brown hair wild and curly as she fixed the veil around her shoulders like one would do a shawl. "You have done the worst, most unthinkable things toward my family and I shall take great pleasure in parading you in front of the masses and have them see your shameful natures and shameful appearances."

"I think that is a very fine idea, dear Asma," said Mei softly, smirking coldly at the men before her still. "I should enjoy that adventure if it pleases our king."

Asma looked over her shoulder at Gilgamesh and saw him staring at all three of them with delight and a bit of awe. "Do as you please, ladies, for it was you they harmed first. I take great pride in watching you three demolish everything these men have stood for since they started conspiring against me."

As if on cue, the men were suddenly pulled up, save the beheaded man, and walked out of the palace with Asma, Fathia and Mei behind them. Gilgamesh stood up and walked out onto the balcony to watch, great amusement evident on his handsome face. The women had the men paraded out in front of them and had them line up on their knees in front of the steps to the palace. People began to gather around to see what was going to happen. He called out to them all. "People of Babylon. This is what happens when you turn traitor to your king. My wives were attacked and my children attacked as well, in an attempt to rid me and my progeny from this world. I, therefore, grant approval for my three favorite wives to take care of the punishment."

Asma lifted up a sword made in the old style from behind her, which had been apparently stowed away on her belt, and held it up for all to see. "I am Asma! Daughter of Ghazi! Mother of Imani and wife of Gilgamesh! Hear me now, for I will not repeat it! If you so much as lay a hand on my family or my king, I will personally deal out the death of your entire family and you just as you have tried to do to me!"

Fathia nodded and pulled the veil over her unbound hair and picked up the sword. "As will I! I am Fathia, daughter of a merchant trader, but I am a wife of Gilgamesh and the mother of his daughter Jalila! I, too, will deal out the same punishment that you have tried to do to me!"

Mei smiled colding at the people. "Let this serve as a warning, dear peasants of this grotesque land. These women and myself are not little cowed women, hiding away behind our husband. We choose to stay quiet for we have nothing to add that hasn't already been said." For once, she pulled her hands from her sleeves and many little knives filled them, all sharp and dangerous. "With that said, let us remind you that being the ladies we are we do not tolerate being attacked or our king being attacked."

As one, all three women moved forward and slaughtered the men in front of them. Asma sliced their backs and heads, Fathia stabbed and cut their heads off and Mei slit their throats. As the men lay bleeding and jerking before the mass of people, they moved back together on the steps. Once more, Gilgamesh spoke, his voice echoing off the walls. "As I said again, don't trifle with what is the king's! You have no right to it and I will make sure you pay if you do!" Then, he walked back into the throne room as the women walked up the steps and into the palace. Asma pulled her hair under the red veil she wore as Fathia attempted to braid hers back once more and do the same with her veil, though it had been in place before. They made their way up to the throne room and were greeted by Gilgamesh who was sitting on his throne, smirking at them appreciatively. "Well done, ladies, well done."

Mei blushed faintly and walked over, kissing Gilgamesh a moment before sitting down on her place next to the throne. Asma eyed Gilgamesh and crossed her arms in front of her chest imperiously. "This does not mean I do not forget my anger for you killing my father."

"He was a coward and lazy. He was too easy to kill and thus doesn't matter. You, on the other hand, are quite the little princess," he said, grinning faintly at her as he ruffled his hair. Asma's cheeks darkened as she relaxed slightly. Without a word, she walked over and kissed Gilgamesh, flicking her tongue out into his mouth as her fingers dug into his hair. She moved away after a moment and flushed even more darkly in her cheeks, hiding her face behind her hand. Then, she walked off quickly into the hallway. Gilgamesh smirked and chuckled softly. So he really did have an effect on these women! He would certainly have to get rid of the others, who so bored him or angered him with their irritating personalities. He looked to Fathia as she walked closer. "And you, Fathia? You certainly looked very lovely as you took that man's head. Like a warrior woman."

Fathia's cheeks went bright pink as she pulled the veil from her face. "Tha… thank you, my lord." He offered a hand toward her and she walked over slowly and put hers in his. He pulled her closer and kissed her gently, gazing at her through his lashes as he pulled away.

He grinned faintly and touched her cheek. "You are very lovely when you become impassioned," he said softly and let go of her.

Fathia moved away, blushing heavily with her rosy lips looking a little darker in color. After a moment, she touched her cheeks and smiled faintly at him, a warm smile on those pink lips of hers. "Thank you, my husband." Then, she moved away and out of the throne room.

Gilgamesh eyed Mei from the corner of his eye and smirked. "When will you speak up and confess to being a clever mastermind?"

"I have no idea what you speak of, my dear," she said as she cleaned her knives, sleeves rolled back to her elbows as she worked.

"You planned out that whole display. You knew that Asma and Fathia were going to be very angry after the event and you put the seed of the killing in their minds this morning, didn't you."

Mei looked to Gilgamesh and smirked faintly, her small mouth turning up slightly at the corners. "Asma is very passionate and holds her pedigree close to her heart. Fathia is cowed and needs reassurance and confidence. Asma was easy, but you made Fathia come out of her shell."

"So you admit that you plotted out a little of how this would play out," said Gilgamesh, eyeing the small woman.

"I admit to nothing," she said and went back to her knives. "Except giving Asma a small thought of what I would like to do to the men who so wronged us all."

Gilgamesh grinned and lay back against his throne. "Devious, clever, intriguing woman, you are. I love it." At that, Mei blushed faintly under the white powder on her face and went back to cleaning her knives.

* * *

Emiya stood in Arturia's room, looking down at the clothes she had given him. He wore black trousers and a white shirt, a black tunic and black coat to go over it all. His boots smelled new and his coat felt odd. "I retrieved what I could find, Emiya," she said as she eyed him. She reached up and ruffled the red-brown hair on his head as he moved away and put it back into place. "You still need a hair cut. No servant of mine will look so shaggy."

He had heard that word before. Servant meant he would be a slave again. "Iei.. slave... iei slave!"

Arturia frowned and narrowed her eyes. "So you do know a few words of English?"

Emiya looked to Arturia in surprise and moved away from her suspicious glare. Once more, he spoke in a long string of words that she could only equate to something that came from the moon. "Emiya!" she said loudly. He immediately quieted down and moved a little more away from her, afraid. She moved closer and took a hold of his collar and pulled him down closer to her. "You will come with me and I will teach you English." With that, she pulled him out the door.

Emiya chattered excitedly in that weird language of his, shoving at her hand. "Iei! Iei! IEI!" Suddenly, the ground beneath her grew bright. The walls around her disappeared and were replaced with a snowy landscape like it looked outside. In the background were flames and in the sky were clouds. All over the snowy ground were swords stuck in the ground. It looked like a graveyard of swords from fallen warriors.

She looked over her shoulder to see Emiya running away from her and grabbing a sword, throwing it at her fast. He was **afraid**. It was his fear driving this bizarre hallucination and he was a wizard at that! Immediately, she dodged the blade and felt her armor come up over her body. Emiya ran at her with another sword, eyes wide with fear. If he was the one who had made this thing, he was the key to disabling it.

Emiya cried out in pain as the clawed tips of her gauntlet bit into his face and ripped three gashes across his face. He hit the ground as the strange world disappeared, holding his face as he yelped in pain, curling up on the ground. She made the armor disappear and walked over to Emiya, picking him up and hauling him back to her room. She sat him down roughly and pulled a kit over to heal him. "Don't ever use that magic on me, Emiya. I was not trying to hurt you and yet you pulled that nasty bit of work on me! Do that again and I will not simply claw your face! Oh do stop moaning, it's not as bad as that!" she snapped.

Emiya stopped whimpering when she put her hands on his face. He blinked at her in surprise, at least through one eye, as she looked closely at the damage she had created. His cheeks flushed faintly as he stared at her. "A-tu-ri-ah," he said.

She flicked her gold eyes up at him and nodded. "Arturia, yes."

Emiya frowned faintly and closed his eyes. "Aaar… Ar-tu-ru-ria?"

Arturia's eyes widened and she dabbed at his cuts gently. "Ar-tu-ria."

Emiya frowned more and knitted his eyebrows together. "Ar-tu-ria." His eye opened suddenly and he smiled faintly. "Arturia!"

Arturia smiled faintly and nodded. "Yes, that is my name. Now, don't talk. I must deal with your cuts."

Emiya closed his eyes once more and let Arturia touch his face and put something foul smelling and stinging onto his cuts. When he moved his face, he could open his other eye and blinked. He looked up at her as she put a stopper into a phial of liquid. "Don't ask what this is. It is a potion my master keeps for such things so we won't bleed to death. Your wounds are healed to a certain extent. They still need to heal, but you should be able to see through your eye now."

As she put the liquid away, Emiya groped around for a mirror and picked up her little hand mirror made of polished silver. As he looked at himself, he saw that the claw marks across his face were partially healed, the new skin forming on them, but still scabbed over. His face had not been worth much to him, but now that he was damaged, he sort of missed his face being whole.

He looked over to Arturia and blushed faintly when she looked to him. "You are not a slave."

"Nani?" Emiya blinked at Arturia in confusion. She said slave, but she said something he didn't understand.

Arturia pointed to Emiya. "Iei slave."

Emiya's eyes widened almost to bulging. When had she learned his home language?!

"Iei means no, correct?" Arturia frowned when Emiya didn't seem to understand. "Iei means no, yes?"

"Iei," he said as he shook his head. "Hai." Then, he nodded his head.

"Iei" meant no and "Hai" meant yes, then, she decided. "You," she said, pointing at his chest, "Are iei slave. Iei is NO in English."

"No." Emiya was confused, but thought that was correct.

"Hai is yes."

"Yessu," he said.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Good."

Arturia nodded and pointed to herself. "Woman."

"Wo-man?"

Arturia nodded and pointed to him. "Man."

"Emiyashirou," he said, thinking she was naming him something else.

"Emiya is man. Arturia is woman."

Emiya frowned faintly. It then hit him. She was teaching him her language! "Man." So in her language, he was a "man".

Arturia nodded and smiled faintly. "Hai."

Emiya grinned faintly, looking a little mischievous. "Yes."

Arturia blinked and smiled faintly. "Yes." After that, she took him down to Merlin to help her give him a crash course in English in hopes of being able to teach him more.

* * *

The battle that had ensued when Cuchulainn had returned to Ulster was a big one, just as he had feared. The boy had come back and killed Emer's father, storming the castle where they lived and stole Emer away. Conochbar rubbed his head as he looked at the declaration of war against Cuchulainn for killing Emer's father. The man's brother wanted revenge and the king's support in the matter! Conochbar couldn't support the man! Cuchulainn had been a foster child to him as he was to several other people! To go against him would be like declaring war on his own children!

Conochbar sighed and sat down, crumpling the document and tossing it aside. He hated having to deal with these sorts of politics! Also, the neighboring Connacht was getting a little uppity, namely his step-father's new lover Maeve. Maeve was in a game against her husband and was requesting Ulster's prized bull to have as her own against her husband so she might win whatever ridiculous bet she had made. He wrote a stern reply and sent it along with a few other notes to a messenger boy.

Conochbar smiled faintly as he thought of young Cuchulainn finally settling down with a wife. At least he would be kept out of trouble. With that in mind, Conochbar went back to dealing with various documents.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

_**A/N: Thank ya'll for reading this rather odd story of mine. And yeah… just wait to see what Emiya turns into. Also, I've discovered Fable. It is LOVE. owo **_

_**Chapter Fifteen**_

"Bath."

"Bedroom."

"Cup."

"Wall."

"Staff."

Merlin watched Emiya carefully as he pointed at random things and let Emiya name them. The boy was fast at learning sometimes rather difficult skills, but he didn't give up when he hit an obstacle. He had a huge problem ahead of him, leaning a language other than his own native tongue to be able to deal with the rather short tempered queen he was going to be serving.

"Want to try the kitchen?" asked Merlin.

"Kitchen? Yes," said Emiya, smiling faintly. "Like kitchen much, yes."

"Do you? Were you serving as a cook in that old fart's house?"

Emiya shook his head and rubbed his arm as he looked away. Merlin had seen the damage done to him already. He had scars on his arms and legs, on his back from whips and sticks. It was no wonder that the boy had killed the man. The man probably finally hit the point where the boy could no longer take it and initiated that strange hallucination that Arturia had described to him several weeks back. He would have to look into it, but he recalled it was called a reality marble, a sort of pocket reality made from the imagination of the user to mirror their heart.

"Then, why is it you like the kitchen so much?" asked Merlin.

Emiya stayed silent for a moment while Merlin waited patiently for the boy's gathered reply. "Ore… ah… I…liked kitchen… since child. Oto… papa and mama always in kitchen. Mama… ah… make many things and… and have… me… help her many times."

Merlin smiled faintly and ruffled his hair affectionately. "What sort of work have you done?"

Emiya flushed faintly and rubbed his arm again, looking away. "I.. do what master say… but.. never good enough. He… tell me… to.. to weed garden and I go. He tell me… to kill cows and I go. Every time… never good enough and hit… hit hard." He seemed to perk up suddenly and smiled brightly at Merlin. "But Arturia give me place to stay. Merlin teach me things to say. I have things to do. I am happy."

Merlin watched him and looked ahead. The boy was humble and wanted to do things only to make others happy. If he thought about it, Arthur Pendragon could have been reborn in this little farmboy from Japan. Yes, Merlin knew where the boy was from and had picked up a little from the very small Japanese community in Hogsmeade. The people had apparently arrived through some form of time rip and had formed a community inside Hogsmeade where they could live peacefully enough. One was a girl and she lived with a rather calculating man resembling an Asian, bespeckled version of Headmaster Riddle and another, who was a twin to another fellow and they both ran a dress shop. Another pair married another young woman, who, as Merlin remembered, was the daughter of his history teacher and they ran a martial arts institute. He couldn't remember the other fellow, but he did recall he had married one of Headmaster Riddle's daughters and was very hyper and full of himself. All three had come and brought their language with them and Merlin had learned a few things from them while he was there as a student.

As he thought about the possibility of the boy being Arthur, both for his humble nature and his hardworking attitude, he also knew that he was wrong, for Arturia had been born from a woman named Igrane and her father was Uther Pendragon. The sword responded to her heart and Avalon with it. She was the right person he was looking for, though he felt he might have preferred Emiya to Arturia.

The kitchen wasn't as busy as usual, the cooks taking a break. Emiya went over to the big stove and poked at it curiously. "What is it?"

"It's a stove," said Merlin.

Emiya blinked and looked around. "Ss-toh-vuh?"

Merlin nodded. "You cook with it, bake meals like fish and chicken."

Emiya nodded and eyed it. "Understand."

Merlin smiled and nodded, going around and helping Emiya learn the names of things. The cook came in and he asked if he could help her. She allowed him to help and Merlin watched with a certain amount of joy as he watched the boy cook beside the cook, chopping vegitables almost blindingly fast with so much ease. The cook watched him in awe. "How do you do that! It's like magic!"

Emiya blinked and processed the information a moment. "Ah.. mama taught me." He smiled sheepishly and began cutting again swiftly.

"One would think you could fight devils with those hands!" gasped the cook.

Emiya's face turned white as he stared at the lettuce in front of him. Merlin frowned as he watched him. The boy could create that reality marble, which was an extension of imaging sorcery, a form of alchemy; therefore, he could create what he needed with his own hands and use it how he wanted. When the cook walked off for a moment, Merlin moved closer to Emiya. "You make weapons with those hands?"

Emiya nodded. "Blades… blades against things that I don't like. Blades that kill."

Merlin watched the young man a moment more before walking out. Emiya watched him go and his face fell even more. The older man was going to not like him now that he knew he was born to kill.

Arturia came in and Emiya's attention jerked up to her. "Ah… Arturia?"

Arturia blinked and nodded. "Yes. Queen, if you will or your highness."

Emiya blinked. "Arturia-o?"

Arturia glared faintly at Emiya. "Your highness or queen Arturia, Emiya."

Emiya blushed faintly and nodded. "Y.. your highness."

"Good. Now that you have learned that much, I wish to train you in how to use those blades you create. Merlin has informed me that my assumption was correct, that you can easily defend if you should have to," she said.

Emiya blinked a moment. Merlin had told her that he was a defender? Emiya straightened a bit more and smiled faintly, bowing to her. "I will.. do what every Queen Arturia.. has me do."

Arturia nodded. "Good. Do you pledge yourself to me?"

Emiya look up and saw her hand extended a seal ring on her finger. "Kiss the seal so I will know that you pledge yourself to whatever purpose I use you for."

Emiya once more stared up at her and then the seal. He then too her hand and kissed the seal ring. His cheeks burned hotly as he moved his lips away from her hand, though his hand lingered on hers. It was so much smaller than his and wasn't soft, but calloused by sword practice and battles. "I… will do whatever Arturia asks."

Arturia gazed at him and nodded. "Then, follow me and I shall personally train you." She took his hand and pulled him along swiftly. They went out the main doors and to the training grounds which was brown where the snow had been kicked off of the ground. She picked up a practice sword and looked to him. "I will teach you sword play and the art of killing. I will use you to whatever end this creates, though with your ability to make blades without needing them on you would make you a perfect assassin. I may have need of such a thing in the future."

Emiya took it all in and tried to process it. "Assashin?"

"An assassin. A person who kills without a word and does so even when the man's back is turned to him. You will kill those who I command you to kill and you will learn the ways of staying silent and hiding as well so you might live longer," said Arturia. "There are always people out there who might target me, and I will need use of such a person in my ranks that I can rely upon to do whatever I need done. Do you swear to do this?"

Emiya didn't like killing. It made his body numb and his heart pound in an unpleasant fashion. However, Arturia made his heart pound in a pleasant fashion and made his body hot and strange. He knew he wanted to bed her, but doing so was impossible, for she was a queen and he had become her servant. He nodded to her and set himself ready to do whatever she asked of him. He only hoped that she would not force him to kill those who did not deserve it, that she was as he felt she was, a just queen despite her chilly nature.

Arturia saw his acknowledgement and nodded to him. "Then, we will begin. First, make your blades."

Emiya looked down at his hands. He had never consciously made the blades before, but made them come to him when he needed. He closed his eyes and thought about wanting to kill that man who beat him. He had needed blades then that would hurt him, blades that were strong and would not break easily, for the man could fight and had strong weapons himself. Two curved blades came from Emiya's hands, both forming from a green grid like pattern and fleshing out into one silvery blade and one black blade.

Arturia eyed them. "Very nice. Do you name them? Blades sometimes need names, you know."

Emiya thought about it. "Kansho… and Bakuya. From an old legend."

Arturia nodded. "Good. Remember them, for it might make it easier for you later to call them forth. Such as my Excalibur. Should I not have it with me, I can call it and it will come to me."

Emiya nodded and gripped the blades in his hands. Arturia held up the practice sword with one hand, as though it weighed nothing. Emiya watched her a moment. When she nodded to him, practice began.

* * *

A messenger came to Camelot, bearing the banner of Ireland, and inquired the Queen's appearance himself. When Arturia arrived, she was a little disheveled and sweating slightly from exertion. It had been a few weeks since she had begun training on Emiya and already he had learned much. Emiya did not stay down for long and always got back up again to take more punishment from her. As he did so, she realized he was learning the way she moved and had begun to improvise. That was when she had started to lose the battles or nearly lose anyway.

She took the message from the messenger and broke the seal on it. It was an invitation to Ulster to witness the christening of Conochbar's heir. Really, it was an excuse to throw a party and little else, but Arturia didn't mind. She was growing a little tired from both dealing with Camelot and the training of Emiya. In the months he had stayed at Camelot, he had grown a little. His body was stronger looking and his weight had come back a bit, filling out the skinny frame he had when he had arrived. Arturia wondered if she should leave him alone there or take him with her to Camelot, but decided the former was a better idea and set off to make arrangements for a small group of men to follow her to Ulster and for Bedivere to serve as steward alongside Merlin while she was away.

She gave the messenger a reply to Conochbar and then set off to arrange the many things she must do in order for her to leave Camelot safe while she was gone. As she left to attend to these matters, she began to wonder if the man Cuchulainn would be there. She wondered if he might be married to that woman he had wanted or be free still. She also wanted to know what the man looked like, for she was still confused as to why they referred to him as though he were just becoming a man instead of the man she had met before on the battlefield, who was a few decades older than that.

Emiya listened in on Arturia's conversation with Bedivere and Merlin, frowning deeply. If he was to be her personal assassin and servant, shouldn't he be with her? Emiya blushed faintly and looked down. Of course she wouldn't need him, for she was far more capable than he in fighting, though he did finally manage to get past her defenses. He had taken up archery as well, in order to be able to take out a target from afar and thus keep himself safer should he have to kill someone. He had successfully learned how to create a bow and started improvising on different types of swords to use with it as she taught him the art of archery.

When she walked away from Bedivere, Emiya saw the look on Arturia's face as she looked at the note once more. Her face was aglow with something he could not name. Delight, perhaps? Who was going to be there that she wanted to see so much? Who was going to be there that made her cheeks flush and her gaze wander? It made Emiya's heart sink to think she wanted a man other than him, but knew deep down she didn't want him in the first place. To her, he was a boy, not a man. He was a child to her and she was raising him to be form fitted into something she needed, not something she felt he would be excellent in.

As she passed by the place where he was hiding, she stopped and put the letter away in her bodice. "I wonder," she muttered, "I wonder if he is married now."

So it was a man! Jealousy flared to life inside Emiya's heart. What man could she possibly want?! Emiya calmed himself and rubbed his face. She walked away as he moved deeper into the shadows. He would be her eyes. He would be her eyes, her ears and her hands. He would do whatever she wanted, be it kill someone or save someone. If she would look at him, acknowledge him, he was happy. If she would look at him and bid him to do something, he was happy. He was her tool, so he felt he might as well enjoy that role to its fullest. Being her tool would give him the advantage of living in her room, being close at hand for when he was needed. Protecting her when she couldn't protect herself. She may have been the sword, but what was a sword without a scabbard to carry it and keep it safe?


	17. Chapter Sixteen

_**A/N: aaaaaaah so you see something in Emiya that both differs and is the same as Shirou. :3 Also, what moron thinks I'm stupid enough to claim Dark Saber is mine, I ask you. The big clash is my idea and mine alone, and I'm the one that gets to make it mesh in a coherent fashion. I have to do this in the rpg as well. Amanda does her fair share, as usual, and I clean up the little bits that make no sense when she misses them. **_

_**But yeah… sorry, I just got a message from someone that made me go "Fuck the what?" ("what the fuck" backwards because whatever happened that caused the outburst was so far beyond comprehension that it reversed reality. Similar to "BZUH?", but not, as BZUH is used when your brain has completely shut down entirely. )**_

_**Oh and… ah hahahhaa… I completely forgot what I had Emiya thinking in the last chapter. Aaah Gotta love it when I do this stuff at night. Makes the brain meats go crazy, but ultimately, I have trouble remembering what I did. XD**_

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

Cuchulainn practiced out in the field with his comrades, laughing as he once again enjoyed life as a soldier of the king's army. His friends, men he had been raised beside, enjoyed having Cuchulainn in their ranks once more, though he had improved so much that they had trouble keeping up with him.

"Oi! Lad! Stop trying to take us all! You'll break us!" laughed one of the older men.

Cuchulainn chuckled and stopped, putting his sword tip first into the ground before crouching down to roll himself a cigarette. It was a nasty habit of his, though it didn't taste like much, for the leaves in the mix were odd and vended from in Scotland. He lit up his cigarette and waved out the match before looking up at his buddies. "Ah, it's been a while since I was able to do this again."

"Camelot raised a proper celebration after we all defeated Gilgamesh," said a man around Cuchulainn's age. "We didn't get to attend it, though. Conochbar came over and retrieved us. He found out you had come."

Cuchulainn cringed slightly. So that was why Conochbar had been so sore with him when he had come back! "I had a higher order… or really a plea for help from someone far fairer than Conochbar," said Cuchulainn as he puffed on his cigarette.

A man chuckled. "A far fairer plea? Who would be this fair person that pleaded for your aid in that battle?"

"The queen herself," said Cuchulainn, grinning mischievously. "Got a letter from 'er on Skye, oddly enough. I figured it must be important and urgent to come to the island."

"Hound," snorted an older man. "You act just like one."

"I was named properly, then, wasn't I," smirked Cuchulainn before he glanced up at the hill a ways off. He saw a black line of riders headed toward Ulster's walls. He frowned. "Seems we've got company. Reckon its raiders?" He only saw raiders and Camelot knights wear such black armor. Could it be Camelot's knights and possibly her queen was coming to Ulster? The thought made his heart thump in his chest. The little queen would be coming and he would finally get the chance to meet her!

"I'll go send a runner to the king. He would know if we're expecting Camelot or not," said the old man. Then, he ran off. Cuchulainn stood up and pulled the sword from the ground and cleaned it off before sheathing it. He put the cig out on the sole of his boot and stowed it away for later as he watched the black clad group come closer. The group was ominous, though he did spot the bright red hair of the queen's kin. He was like a lantern in the night, easy to spot for his hair fairly glowed.

"It's Camelot, men," he said.

"How do you know?" asked one of the younger men.

"Recognize the day glow red haired one. Fought beside him, in fact… well… sort of. He was fighting and I wasn't paying attention." Cuchulainn scratched his cheek a moment and watched the riders longer still.

Cuchulainn had to move out of the way quickly as two riders wearing Ulster armor galloped out on their horses. "Watch where you're going, you pair of diseased rats!" he bellowed at them. "I bet your mam weaned you off your father instead!" The pair didn't turn to him as they rode out fast to meet the small army headed for Ulster. Cuchulainn laughed anyway, though.

"Come on, lads," said the old man as he came back, "Camelot has come to Ulster. Sean and Tristan just rode out for them."

"Sean, aye? Better heckle him when he comes riding back with them," said Cuchulainn with a broad grin.

* * *

Arturia watched as two Irishmen rode up to her contingent. She saw the walls of Ulster and eyed the men running about through the open gate. "Camelot! We came to greet you!"

Gawain held up his hand as they neared. "Greetings, Ulstermen. It seems we're here for a party!"

The two chuckled and came around on either side of the contingent. "We're here to escort you into the capital," said the younger one, "wouldn't want the queen o' Briton getting lost, now do we?"

"Keep your tongue in your head, boy," said the older one, though, as Arturia looked at him, she noticed he wasn't much older than the boy he spoke to.

"Will others greet us?" asked Arturia, watching the open gate.

"Aye, more than likely, your highness. Cuchulainn saw you coming and inquired as to who you were and we were sent to bring you into our walls," said the older one as he moved closer along side to be nearer to her. He had a charming smile, though nothing special.

One of the men beside her grunted and made him move a little farther back. Despite the helmet he wore, Arturia recognized that his armor didn't fit right; he was a bit too small for it. She had noticed it while they were coming to Ireland that one of her men had trouble keeping his breeches on and would constantly hide his red brown hair in case someone saw him. She flicked her gaze back to the gate once more as they grew closer. She saw a flash of blue hair and frowned. She remembered seeing blue hair before, though she couldn't remember why. She also remembered a young man, about her age, sitting and singing, though she couldn't remember fully why. It had been as though it were nothing but a dream. She remembered pressing her lips to his cheek, but only feeling as though she were kissing a ghost. Was she the spirit?

She would deal with Emiya when she was settled. For now, she wanted to see how he faired with hiding himself. It was a good, fair, start on his becoming an assassin, should he continue to serve her as such. Blending in was paramount.

Cuchulainn watched as the procession rode in through the gates, black armored men atop horses as they rode past him and his men. He ran up beside Sean and chuckled. "Your mam would be so pleased to see you ridin' like a knight in shining armor," he teased.

Sean flushed faintly and attempted to kick at Cuchulainn. "Shut it, mate, shut it. I don't need that from you!"

Cuchulainn continued to walk beside Sean as he looked past him. There, in the middle of her guarding knights, was Queen Arturia. She was looking at him imperiously with a certain amount of chilly irritation sent his way. Cuchulainn grunted and took a hold of Sean's saddle to make sure he kept pace. If the woman hadn't looked like she could give her own country a run for its money on being cold, he might have thought she was pretty. She looked away sharply when she saw him and moved up through her guarding knights toward her kin. Was it his imagination, or did Cuchulainn see the fainted hint of pink in her white ears?

Arturia came up beside Gawain as he grinned at her. Once again her cheeks were pink as she eyed him. "Why do you look at me so?"

"Because it seems you have found a man who causes you to get hot in your cheeks," he said, teasing her. "You look very maidenly with those pink cheeks," he said.

Arturia gave him an icy stare before moving back toward Emiya. By that point, the blue haired young man had already moved off away from her escort and gone somewhere else. What was it about the young man that caused her cheeks to burn?

* * *

The party was huge. Musicians played on one side of the great hall as guests milled about, talking and enjoying each others' company. Arturia walked among them all watching chests rather than faces, as that was as far up she came to pretty well everyone there. She had worn her usual style of black dress and had taken up wearing a lace under gown to cover the split where the bodice tied in front a bit more. It didn't make her very self conscious, however, since dealing with Gilgamesh, she had become accustomed to trying to not entice men so much with the obvious amount of flesh she showed.

She watched as a violet haired young woman, her long, beautiful hair pulled back in a loose braid, walked past her. Arturia frowned faintly as she watched the young woman. She was younger than Arturia by a few years, most likely either at the cusp or just past the cusp of marriageable age. Despite being so much younger, she was beautiful, beyond beautiful, and it caused a strange sensation inside Arturia's chest as she watched her. A feeling of dread accompanied the strange tight feeling inside her as she watched the woman walk through the crowd.

Was Arturia as pretty as the girl? Was she desirable? Arturia had not grown up with this sort of thing in mind, for she was brought up to rule as a king. She knew she was a girl and did not like the idea of hiding her gender simply to rule, so she had decided long ago to make sure everyone accepted her as their queen and not their king.

Some told her she was maidenly, but that was not what she felt. She felt old and unwelcome. She moved silently through the people milling around until she caught sight of blue hair. Her heart thumped oddly as she saw it and moved toward it.

She came to a clear area and found her target turned away from her. He was dressed in his finest clothing, plush dark blue velvet and gold trimmed tunic complimenting his odd hair wonderfully. He turned and looked toward her, still smiling from whatever conversation he had been having. His red eyes were stunning! They were like Gilgamesh's had been, ruby red with cat like slitted pupils. He had a lithe body with relatively broad shoulders and trim waist. His blue ponytail was pulled back with a dark blue ribbon and the top part, which was messy when she had first seen him, was brushed back and looked nice. The very image of him caused Arturia's body to tremble. If he wasn't from a god or a faery, she would cry, for it would be the first human man she had ever seen that was so beautiful like a faery!

"Hello, little queen," said the beautiful young man, still smiling at her.

She snapped out of her reverie to look up at him again. "Hmmm? Pardon?"

"You are Queen Arturia of Camelot, correct? I remember your name from the battlefield and from the note you sent me," he said, smiling charmingly at her.

Arturia's heart thumped hard in her chest as her eyes grew wide. "My letter?" Was this young man Cuchulainn?!

He frowned. "Oi, yeah, your letter. I'm sorry if you thought I was being rude earlier when I was talking to m'friend Sean, earlier. He's younger 'n me and I enjoy teasing him when he gets important tasks to perform."

"Are you… Are you Cuchulainn?"

He grinned and bowed with a flourish. "That I am, little queen. I am Cuchulainn, hound of Ulster, as everyone's so fond of pointing out."

Arturia's cheeks were aflame. She backed away slightly, uncertain of what she should do. When he took her hand and kissed it, she eased slightly and watched him with curiosity. He stood up and smiled faintly at her, leaning over her a little as he did so. "You moved me with your plea for help, so I came and did what I could. After all, you were right. If he had gotten through us, he would have gone through all the islands and waged an attack on everyone."

Arturia gazed up at Cuchulainn as though she were drunk. Sher certainly felt like she was, for her mind was hazy. Cuchulainn also had a strange feeling in his bones as he gazed at Arturia. It was as though he knew this was most definitely not the last he would meet of Arturia and it unnerved him greatly that he felt as though he were fulfilling a part of destiny that he did not wish to fulfill at this point.

"Cu?"

Arturia's attention snapped over to the violet haired young woman as she came closer to Cuchulainn's side and took his arm. She had a ring on her left hand that left little room for doubt as to why she was so close to Cuchulainn's side. "Cu, aren't you going to introduce me? This is the woman you went to Briton for, right?"

"Ah! Yes, I'm sorry, Emer." Cuchulainn laughed and looked to Arturia, grinning. "My lady Arturia, this is my wife Emer. We recently married and I sometimes forget about her presence!"

Emer pouted as Cuchulainn laughed more. Arturia bowed her head slightly toward Emer and then backed away. "Pleasure to meet you. I must mingle now. Thank you for your aid, hound of Ulster," she said.

Cuchulainn chuckled and then turned to Emer as Arturia moved between several people so she couldn't hear what they spoke of. The pair acted as though they were in love, all right. Emer looked puzzled as Cuchulainn blushed faintly and laughed, causing Emer to blush herself.

Arturia's heart felt numb. She felt as though someone had pulled her heart from her breast and left her with a gaping hole where they ripped it out. She could barely breathe and her head was getting light. All she could see was the young woman beside Cuchulainn and how beautiful she was as she laughed heartily at Cuchulainn as he spoke something. He moved closer to her and nuzzled against her temple and then kissed her cheek, his arm going around her shoulders. He licked against Emer's earlobe and nibbled as the girl blushed heavily and tried to shove him away.

Arturia felt something fill the void inside her. Cold fury filled her heart as she watched. All she could see was herself impaling the girl with Excalibur and putting her head on a pike for all to witness. At that moment, Arturia moved away swiftly and went up the stairs toward the guest quarters. She didn't notice Emiya behind her as he watched her run oddly, falling against the walls as she became dizzy. She didn't notice when he lifted her up into his arms and carried her to her room. She only noticed when she felt the soft bed against her back and saw Emiya move away from her.

"Queen Arturia…… is saddened.. by something?" asked Emiya, forming his sentence slowly so he would not mess it up.

Arturia blinked and shot up from the bed. "Emiya, I thought I had told you that you were to stay in Camelot." Her voice was far colder than he had ever heard it. He grew afraid and touched the scars on his face, reminding him why he had to remember to stay calm, to make certain he did not initiate the reality marble.

"I felt.. it would be.. good training for me," he said, trying to remain calm.

She sat down and nodded. "Very well, you did poorly. However, it is your first time attempting to do this, so I must not be harsh with you. Please leave my room now, for I am cross with you for being here."

Emiya frowned and shook his head. "My place… is with my queen."

The gaze Arturia gave Emiya made the very marrow of his bones shatter from the chill. Her armor started appearing on her body as she stood slowly. He gulped and hit the ground on his hands and knees. "Forgive me, my queen!" he cried. "I was only… I wa… I was only concerned!"

She kicked him square on the jaw. Emiya flew backward and landed on his back. His skull connected with the stone floor and caused stars to appear before his eyes as his hand went up to his jaw. He could move it, though it hurt like hell. "Leave. Now," said Arturia. He rolled to his feet as quickly as he could manage and ran out to find his room.

When he left, Arturia's gauntlets were fully formed on her hands. With a cry of absolute outrage, she slammed her fist into the wall, rock breaking and falling at her feet as she pulled her hand away. As she looked down at her hand, the armor disappeared and she wasn't even bruised.

With that, she sat back on her bed and pulled her knees up, hugging them close to her as she stared at nothing.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

_**A/N: at the laundry now, doing clothes. Got back home not that long ago. Argh, I can't wait to be able to sleep over at the new house permanently! It'll be so cool! My room has a bed, a real bed and not one on the floor! And the air duct is right over me! I have air conditioning!**_

_**And plus the computer over there had Fable on it, which I've grown very attached to now. I don't bitch about Vista as much now, though papa did get the premium. **_

_**And, aaah I'm beginning to forget things that I do with the story. w;; Must be lack of sleep.**_

_**Chapter Seventeen**_

"The little queen is very odd," said an older man next to Cuchulainn. He nodded in agreement as Emer watched him.

"You praised her a great deal when you saw her fight before," said Emer, not liking her husband's sudden change in feeling toward a woman who she had heard such grand things about. A woman who had taken the throne like a king and held it without a problem, who rallied all the islands to the battlefront and had taken the sick and dying peoples of the border desert into her own home and gave them work. Such a woman should be praised, not gossiped about like the men seemed to be doing.

"Aye, but I never actually met her. As it seems, she had never seen me either, I feel," said Cuchulainn as he looked at the stairs where the odd young man with red-brown hair came down. He had seen the young man take his queen up to her room when she left so abruptly. He didn't want to tell Emer that something strange had occurred when he spoke to the queen, that he could still feel the faery kiss on his cheek tingle as he had drawn himself closer to Arturia. He didn't mind taking a lover, but a queen? A queen who was possibly looking for a husband? He didn't want that anymore than he wanted to be separated from Emer for long periods of time.

Emer watched him and touched his cheek gently. "Cu… if she bothers you, you can say something. I'm sure she won't mind moving away from you if you feel uncomfortable with her around."

That was the thing. He couldn't decide if she made him uncomfortable or if he really wanted near her. He simply felt odd about the woman, uneasy. Especially since he watched her stagger away.

Cuchulainn leaned close to Emer and kissed her ear. She went pink in her ears and cheeks almost immediately. "Cuchulainn, please… not in public."

Cuchulainn grinned and let his hand wander down her side to her waist and pulled her tighter to him. "No one would notice. They're all busy with themselves, my love."

Emer's small hands attempted to push herself away from Cuchulainn, but he held her tighter to him still. He licked around the shell of her ear and then sucked on her earlobe. She shivered and trembled against him. "C-cu… please.."

He let go of her and smirked at her as she hid her cheeks with her hands. She flicked her eyes to him and went redder still. He offered his hand to her with a charming smile plaster across his face. She looked away for a moment and then took his hand with hers. With that, he pulled her away out the kitchen entrance and outside where he picked her up against him and kissed her hard. She answered the pressure and wrapped her arms and legs around him. He nuzzled against her neck and down to her breast before stopping and kissing her gentler between the soft mounds hidden beneath deep purple velvet and silk. "I love you," he murmured.

She pulled his face up with her small hands and smiled warmly at him. "And I love you as well," she said softly, "my hound."

He grinned and picked her up properly. She gasped and wrapped her arms around his neck to stay upright as he carried her away.

* * *

Arturia stayed in Ulster for a few days before returning back to Camelot. No one asked, outside of Conochbar, where she had disappeared to while she stayed there or why, if they knew she was in her room, did she not come out to enjoy the festivities that Conochbar had provided for his guests. She couldn't tell him that her run in with Cuchulainn had caused her heart so much trouble that she wanted to end the problem before anything else was done.

Gawain had found a nice woman to stay with, however, and Arturia was glad he had found a woman to woo, at least for the time they were there. He might send letters to her to continue or he would forget the entire affair, but she was glad her nephew was taking an interest in finding a wife for himself.

Also, while she had been there, she noticed the grand majority of the people in Ireland were pagan. Conochbar was Christian, as far as she knew, for he had described something akin to a Christening for his new baby, but he was the only one she had seen that seemed as though he was. Might she have mistaken the custom he described and they were all pagan instead?

When they finally reached Camelot, Bedivere was beside himself with worry, though he didn't show it. Gawain had to pull him away forcefully as he kept giving Arturia paper after paper after paper to look over just to have an excuse to keep talking to her.

Emiya approached her that night, his head bowed and his hands at his sides. She looked to him, frowning faintly. "What is it, Emiya?"

"I wish to know what had caused my queen to be so disturbed," he said. His accent was still present, but his ability to speak English was a lot faster.

Arturia looked away from him. "I do not know what you mean, Emiya," she said.

Emiya looked up at her and frowned disapprovingly at her. When had the boy grown to look so adult as he did now? "You lie. Something made my queen unhappy. I wish to know what it was."

Arturia sat down on a chair and put her hands in her lap. "I met a man whom I wished to meet, wished to know, but found him already married and happy."

Emiya's face softened as he gazed at her. He moved to sit on the ground at her feet and looked up. Arturia looked to him and frowned. "Sit in a chair, Emiya."

Emiya watched her a moment and then took her foot and unlaced her boot. "I will massage my queen's feet. They must be very strained."

Arturia frowned as she watched him pull off her boots and start working her feet. Indeed, her feet were a bit pained, but she was accustomed to it, for she had to deal with it all the time. She watched in fascination as he gauged her responses to his gentle prodding and responded to make his moves harder or gentler to compensate. It was the same way he fought. He did it with conviction and compensated for things that surprised him.

"My place is at my queen's side. Be it standing or on the ground," he said softly. "I made a vow to serve and I will serve gratefully."

Arturia watched Emiya through her lashes. She reached out and stroked his cheek with her cold fingers; making his cheeks heat up more. "Then, you will serve me in ways you will not like, for I do not forgive and do not take the offenses of others." She continued to stroke his cheek, as though petting a precious pet. "You will do things that you will hate yourself for and it will break you."

Emiya shook his head. "No, I won't break. I'll overcome it!" His gaze was hot and steady, confident in his own ability to be whatever she wished him to be.

She leaned back in her chair, feeling cold and empty. "You will break. Your heart is hot and flows freely; your spirit is like that of my knights, but younger and more tender."

Emiya frowned. He knew he was to be an assassin, for she had told him before that was what she would have him do. What more could she possibly want of him?! A thought came to his mind that made his cheeks heat more. She couldn't possibly be thinking of bedding him, could she?

Arturia thumped him between his eyes, making him fall backward. "You are thinking bad thoughts. I'll not have you doing so while fondling my feet."

Emiya went bright pink and scratched his nose as he looked away sheepishly. He had forgotten he was massaging his queen's feet when she started talking to him. He sighed and stood up. "I vowed to be whatever you wished me to be and I swear by it even now. I will not betray my queen," he said as he looked to the floor.

"Very well, then," she said softly, "We shall see soon enough. For now, you can do whatever tasks you feel useful for until I ask you to do something. You will need to learn how to stay low and be unseen; those are things that can only be learned while one is doing a task. If you fail the task by being seen, you will learn from that experience."

Emiya looked over to Arturia and bowed. "Yes, my queen." He stood up and smiled at her. "Would you like me to cook something?"

Arturia eyed Emiya for a moment before nodding. "I would like that very much, Emiya," she said softly. The image of Arturia with her stocking covered feet crossed over each other as she reclined in the chair she was in was a most alluring one, despite the fact that he barely saw any actual skin aside from what she showed daily. It made his cheeks grow hot once more as he turned away from her and walked out to go to the kitchens. As he left, however, he didn't watch the small, very faint, smile crawl across Arturia's face. Emiya was definitely coming along nicely for what she had in mind for him in the future and she would use him to the fullest extent possible.

* * *

Emiya learned slowly what Arturia had meant. She had him tail a few people, her knights mainly, as they went about their business. She did not order him to kill, though, so he was certain this was a form of practice. He covered himself up like the people in the ruins and made himself rather unseen, at least by his rather odd looking features. However, looking a little like a walking mummy made him easy to spot.

He recalled that the people in the ruins covered themselves up so they wouldn't be picked apart by those afraid of them. However, it made them easy to spot, with their scarves and whatnot wrapped around their bodies tightly.

Agravaine walked ahead of Emiya, almost disappearing in the crowd. Emiya frowned when he couldn't see the man and pulled the wrapping from his head so he would be able to see and hear better. Almost instantly, someone pulled him away into a darkened alley and put a knife to his throat. "You! I should have known! You're that damn queen's lapdog that she's been training!"

Emiya saw Agravaine's face and blinked at him in confusion. "Ah… y-yes, I am the queen's servant."

"Following me?"

Emiya felt the tip of the knife bite into him a little. He winced. "N-no.. I wasn't… please sir, I was only trying to learn how to disguise myself!"

The man moved the knife away from Emiya and sheathed it, spitting at his feet. Emiya couldn't understand why the man seemed so angry at him. Didn't he know he was supposed to be tailing him? Wasn't this an exercise?

"Run along, boy. I don't need the likes o' you followin' me around," grunted Agravaine.

Emiya did as he was told and put the covering back on his head, moving away from Agravaine. The man moved out of the alley in disgust and jogged away into the crowd of people. If Agravaine was surprised to be tailed by someone that must have meant that Arturia truly suspected him of foul play and hoped Emiya would find something out. Emiya slapped his forehead as he realized how stupid he had been. If Arturia had found out about this failure, and she would, he would be hit for sure!

He jogged back into the crowd and went to look for Agravaine. Emiya realized soon that he would have to turn back and face Arturia, for he had completely lost the man he was supposed to watch.

And he was right.

Arturia kicked him on the jaw as he kneeled in front of her. She stood up quickly and walked around him. "Do you know what the price for failing me is, Emiya?"

Emiya held his jaw and looked down. "I'm sorry, my queen. I had thought it was merely training and had not thought to be more serious."

"What if he killed you? What if he decided you were best used against me? There are worse things that dealing with me when I'm angry!" Arturia shoved him and stood over him before sitting down on top of him. As he looked up at her in surprise, she leaned over him and stared at him. "Be more careful, Emiya, for I'm a picnic compared to traitorous knights who think you're working for me. I have long suspected Agravaine to be working for my sister and I do not wish to be right, but for all I am, I can not disprove it."

Emiya felt her hands trail over his chest as his heart jumped up several paces, fluttering madly in his ribcage like a wild bird. She got off him and walked over to her chair, sitting down once more. Emiya got up and looked to her, blushing heavily.

"Why do you suspect him? Is your sister cruel?" asked Emiya.

Arturia didn't answer. She looked off to the side and tapped her fingertips to her lips in thought. "I can't answer that for myself."

Emiya frowned. "Is that why you needed to me to have succeeded?"

Arturia nodded. "Yes. I fear my sister hates me enough to find ways of breaking my peoples' already shaky trust in me. I hope the victory against Gilgamesh may have saved me that problem, but you never know."

Emiya stood slowly and nodded. "I will work harder next time."

Arturia waved a hand at him dismissively. "Don't deal with it right now. He knows I'm onto him now and will likely be on the look out. Wait a while, wait until he feels secure I have forgotten and then set out once more."

"What do you think your sister will do?"

Arturia went back to thinking. "I don't know," she said softly, "I feel a chill in my bones when I think of her. It feels like a warning of something to come."

Emiya nodded. "I will go make my queen some tea," he said, smiling faintly, "If you wish, that is."

Arturia nodded. "That would be appreciated." Then, she watched as the boy left. Indeed, she did worry about her sister plotting something against her. To use one of her own knights against her, a man who is her nephew, an older son to her sister, would be useful in obtaining information against Arturia should she wish to undermine her.

Arturia prayed that she had only become very chilly and not had a premonition of bad things to occur in time. She had had enough of bad things in her life. Her mother hated her, her sister hated her, the man she hoped to possibly grow closer to when she met him turned out to be married and she had the oddest feeling she had done something with him before that made her cheeks heat. She knew she hadn't bedded him, so she must have done something else, maybe even slightly intimate, with the man before she knew his name. She recalled the dream where she watched the men surrounding her and the young man singing. She remembered that in the dream she was close to him. She felt her lips tingle and frowned faintly as she stroked them. She closed her eyes and smiled faintly. Had she kissed him? That would have been a dream, all right.

With that, Arturia waited for Emiya to come back to her. As she waited, she plotted the ways for which she could use Emiya to watch Agravaine and Gaheris, for she trusted neither. Gawain she trusted, for he showed nothing but the greatest fondness for her and for that she loved him. She wondered about his brother Gareth for a moment before Emiya came back with her tea. Then, she sat and enjoyed her tea while Emiya sat at her feet and rubbed them once more.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

_**A/N: okay! So I had a long day. I did myself a nice desktop and I think all is well enough.**_

_**My brain is fried.**_

_**Chapter Eighteen**_

Arturia received a message from her people in Ulster. Queen Maeve was attacking at Cooley to get at their prized bull. For whatever purpose, the messenger didn't say, but that Maeve of Connacht was attacking for a bull seemed ridiculous enough! "Over such a silly little battle!" growled Arturia before tossing the parchment over her shoulder.

Emiya was working on her bed, attempting to make it level and restuff the pillows. As she watched him, she saw the small smile on his face as he worked. She picked up another letter and looked it over. Cuchulainn had been brought into the conflict on Ulster's behalf. He was due to fight when Maeve arrived, though how was another problem altogether. Should he fight the selfish queen, he would be against her entire army alone.

Arturia tapped her finger to her lips gently while she thought heavily on the conflict in Ireland. Cuchulainn was having to fight alone against the forces of Connacht. Maeve seemed like a very domineering woman when she had been at Camelot and would likely despise any form of defeat. She would most likely use whatever means she had within her grasp to fight Cuchulainn to get to that bull.

The thought of it all made Arturia angry. She wanted Cuchulainn for herself, to be certain, but she didn't want him to die. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, remembering that strange dream where she had kissed his cheek. Why did it feel so real?

Emiya watched her from across the room and stood when he had finished with the bed, but did not start on the pillows. "My queen, what troubles you?" he asked.

Arturia's eyes opened and she saw the sharp reality of the world in front of her. She wasn't in her little dream where she was being sung about by the Hound of Ulster, earning him a kiss on the cheek of her appreciation, she was in her room and Emiya was still watching her. She shook her head. "A storm is brewing in Ireland, Emiya. Cuchulainn has been dispatched to take care of it."

Emiya frowned. He had seen the young man, about his age, in fact, and wondered how he could stop a storm. "How… can he stop a storm?"

Arturia blinked and looked up. "Eh? Oh.. apologies, Emiya, I meant that a very big and nasty row is about to start in Ireland. It seems Queen Maeve of Connacht is trying to invade to steal a bull from Ulster.

Emiya watched Arturia for a moment more before putting his tools on the bed and sitting. "Why has he been sent? Does he not have others backing him?"

"I don't know why he was sent alone, however, it seems he only has his… charioteer and horse backing him and that's it." She hated to think the nice Conochbar was not trying to send Cuchulainn to his death.

Emiya watched Arturia for a moment more, watching her as the doll like mask seemed to slip a little, showing a very worried look. She must be very worried for this man Cuchulainn for her to show it! "If you are… worried for the welfare of Cuchulainn… shouldn't you go to see if he needs more aid? Bring Camelot's army to Ulster?"

Arturia shook her head. "No, if I bring my army in, they might attack me thinking I am trying to invade. I would need to go either alone or with only a few people to protect me."

"I'll go with you," said Emiya, smiling. Arturia's gaze snapped toward him. He blushed faintly and scratched his nose so he wouldn't have to see her eyes upon him. "I am training to fight for my queen as an assassin, so why not have me with you to protect you, should you need protecting."

Arturia's surprised face melted back to its usual cold mask, though slightly less chilly. "That is a fine idea, Emiyashirou. Bedivere would come along as well as Gawain. Merlin would stay here as steward while Bedivere and Gawain are here and all will be well," she said. She smiled very faintly and Emiya seemed transfixed by that faint smile toward him. "Thank you."

It had been the first time since he had come to the castle that she had thanked him for something. The shock caused Emiya to blush heavily, but a confident grin played across his face, much like Gawain. "I'll not fail you, my queen."

* * *

Arturia set forth across Briton and around Wales to get to the ocean. The trick went far more quickly than usual as Arturia kept them going far longer than they normally would have traveled. They didn't sleep in warm beds, but made camps to rest in. Bedivere didn't like the strain this was taking on both him and Arturia. Gawain didn't seem to complain too much, though he had stores of energy that Bedivere couldn't possibly imagine. Emiya also seemed as though he could keep going, though Bedivere saw the strain the constant moving took on him. He simply just didn't complain nor give up. If he had been born a noble or caught Arturia's eye like Bedivere had, he might not be a servant, but a knight. Bedivere could certainly see the potential in the boy. His spirit was strong and his heart stronger, his will to survive as equally strong.

Arturia, meanwhile, simply wouldn't let herself stop. A devil seemed to have taken her over as she rode hard for days and slept only when she couldn't ride anymore. When Bedivere had asked his queen why she drove everyone so hard toward Ireland, she told him it was because she wanted to see to someone's welfare.

"It's that Cuchulainn, isn't it," said Gawain, grinning.

Arturia's face flushed pink. "And if it was? I had heard he is fighting an entire army on his own, I wish to see that he at least has some support, should he need it."

"You do realize that he is a womanizer and married, my lady," said Bedivere, unable to take any more of his queen's attitude toward the pagan Irishman.

"Seeing to someone's welfare doesn't mean I have to agree to their religious beliefs," said Arturia, not looking at Bedivere.

"Yes, but you're thinking in terms of marriage!"

Arturia stopped her horse, for once not advancing any further than where she stopped. Bedivere overshot her when she made the sudden stop and turned his horse to face her. "My queen?"

Her face was a cold mask of absolute fury. Bedivere felt the marrow of his bones chill and shatter with her icy glare. "I already know he is married, Bedivere, and he is a soldier, at best a knight, a hero of his people, but he is not royalty that I can marry."

Gawain thumped Bedivere on his head. "You should know better'n that than to say something like that around her. She's fancies him very much," he hissed at the one handed knight.

Bedivere knew Gawain was right, but he couldn't help feeling so angry that his queen continued to pursue this man who didn't even believe in their creator as their creator. Even worse, that she wanted this man as her own husband so badly that she would drop whatever she was doing just to see if he was safe or not truly made Bedivere sore.

"Emiya, you stay with Arturia, I'm riding ahead to check the path to the ferry," said Bedivere.

Emiya eyed Bedivere a moment. "I don't see a crown on your head," he said, irritated that he should be ordered by this knight rather than his queen. He had grown very tired of the knights telling him what to do. His pact was not with them, it was with Arturia and Arturia alone.

"Emiya, do as he says, please," said Arturia.

Emiya looked to Arturia and nodded, looking down. "Yes, my queen." Then, he nudged his horse over to her side as Bedivere, furious that the boy had ignored him so, galloped ahead of them.

"Well, he's certainly got his knickers in a twist," said Gawain. Emiya blinked and chuckled, having started to pick up a few slang terms as he learned everything else. "No worries, cousin, we'll get to Ulster in time to see Cuchulainn kill them all. I saw what he was like on the battle field and I know he's got it in him to take them all on single handedly."

Arturia nodded and watched the retreating back of the smartest of her knights disappear in front of her. When Bedivere came back, they advanced once more to the ferry and took the ferry up to the north of Ireland. On the ferry, they rested comfortably, letting the horses feed on better hay and oats than what they were eating before.

When they reached land, they continued on their journey up to the north most part of Ireland, Ulster. From there, Arturia felt they might be able to find where the battle is by asking about the bull. They kept going until they found the border of Ulster. Arturia had her hood up, but the guards at the border didn't budge. It was as though they were unable to move.

Bedivere got off his horse and ran over to check the guards. "They're alive, but they are lying like they are asleep, my queen. What magic is this?"

"It's a curse," said Gawain. Arturia looked over to him in surprise. Gawain smiled faintly. "I don't have to be a wizard to see magic, my dear cousin." He held up a hand and pointed to his bright green eyes as they seemed to glow slightly. "My eyes never lie. I see the nets of a curse over them; I'd recognize the like anywhere for my mother is a witch, as you know."

Arturia nodded and looked back to Bedivere. "Get on your horse. I think I have an idea as to why Cuchulainn is fighting alone." With that, she galloped ahead of them, Emiya following close behind.

"It'd make sense. The bloke's got more power in him than I've seen in even Merlin. He's not a wizard, but he is powerful," said Gawain. He grinned. "Seems we might be useful to her yet, my friend!" Then, he hurried after Arturia.

Arturia rode once more like hell itself were on her tail. Emiya, not yet accustomed to riding horses, had trouble trying to keep control of his horse. However, when he faltered behind, Gawain and Bedivere were right behind him and helped him get control of his horse once more.

The sound of a battle was nearby. Bedivere could hear it clearly. He heard the grunts and snarls of two men locked in combat. "It's nearby, Gawain! She'll be there before us!"

"Fair enough, she's a right to go ahead of us!" said Gawain, a broad grin plastered on his face. "Come, my friends! We have a battle to witness!" Then, he rode as hard as Arturia ahead of Bedivere and Emiya.

Bedivere grunted. "I sometimes hate that man for that twisted humor of his," he said, then looked to Emiya, "Come on, boy, we need to get to our queen before she does something even more rash than this blasted quest!"

Emiya nodded. "Agreed!" Then, he followed the one handed knight after their comrade and their queen.

* * *

Cuchulainn was hurt badly. He was bleeding from various wounds on his body, his muscles hurt from the extended use of them and his lungs felt they were burning inside his body. He had pushed his body to its limits and was still fighting yet more against his latest opponent. The whole mess could have been avoided entirely had he not chosen the moment that Maeve's men decided to cross the border of Ulster into Cooley to find a bed with Emer and enjoy his new wife's pleasures. She had grown since they were married and her body was becoming more womanly, just as his was becoming manlier, at least he felt it was anyway. She seemed to agree as well, as she didn't complain yet. He didn't like growing a beard, as he preferred the clean look of his boyish features to those of an old man, so he kept his face clean and suffered the little bit of teasing he received from his fellows.

However, now, none of them were able to tease him now, for they were all incapacitated by the curse Maeve had cast over them. He had already escaped having to fight his own foster father Fergus Mac Roich by striking a deal with him. He had also spent the longest time fighting all of Maeve's army at the small ford where he had initiated his right to dueling at the ford. His friend and charioteer stayed back in his tent, tending to his horse and chariot and other small amount of possessions.

However, Maeve had performed the ultimate act of cruelty. She had tricked his dear friend, a foster brother from his time on Skye learning from Sgatha beside him, Ferdia. She had tricked him into joining the fight, because he was the only one aside from his foster father that could equal him in battle. The fight he had endured for two days was grueling. He had thought his friend a traitor to him, however, his friend had spoken aright to him about not wanting to join, but he could not back out now.

And Maeve had been right in choosing Ferdia to fight against him, for Cuchulainn had a tendency toward letting his opponent to land blows upon him to get inside their defenses to strike. With that in mind, Ferdia was almost as strong as Cuchulainn and dealt hard blows to him that knocked him off his feet and caused massive wounds on his body. It was everything Cuchulainn could do to keep using his favored tactic to get inside Ferdia's defenses to deal the blows he had made. The only thing he had left to him was the Gae Bolg, which he wanted to refrain from using against Ferdia, for it was an unfair weapon to use in this fight.

Cuchulainn felt the bite of Ferdia's sword in his shoulder and felt his fist on his jaw, throwing him back away from his opponent. When Cuchulainn landed on the ground, he rolled away and lay face down for a moment to catch his breath. He hissed and slowly pushed himself up. To keep Maeve from taking their stud bull all the way back to Connacht, he was to keep fighting. He had to win or their bull would be lost to them.

He took a moment to look up at the hills around him. On one side were Maeve's forces, watching the battle and cheering Ferdia on, telling him to kill Cuchulainn while he was down. Ferdia ignored them willfully and watched his friend from a distance. This would be a fair fight and their strengths alone would decide the victor.

On the other side, Cuchulainn saw the black form of a woman in a black, fur lined, cloak atop a black war horse. A half grin played across his bruised mouth. So the little queen had come to see after him? That was her form he recognized was it not?

He looked to Ferdia and sighed, getting up with his sword in hand. "I'm ready."

Ferdia nodded and ran at him, sword swinging. Cuchulainn dodged and moved around his friend in a weird dance as he battled his friend and now opponent.

Arturia watched the display with a bit of awe. The man was severely wounded and yet he kept moving. And had that been a smile on his face when he looked up at her? Arturia put a hand on the hilt of Excalibur, safely tucked into Avalon on her belt. He would require a lot of healing potion and blood replenishing potion to survive those wounds after the battle, should he survive against this worthy adversary.

She gasped when Cuchulainn was thrown once more. She saw him roll, blood spilling from his mouth. He had landed a serious blow to his opponent, however, one that caused the man to falter to his knees to catch his breath; however it wasn't a killing blow. The man coughed blood onto the ground and gripped his side, seemingly cursing as he did so. As he got to his feet, Cuchulainn picked up a blood red spear. She had seen it before on the frontline against Gilgamesh, but had not really noted it before. It was a remarkable looking weapon, shimmering slightly in the dying light of the setting sun.

When he stood up next, he fought Ferdia with the dreaded Gae Bolg. Cuchulainn had not wanted to use it, for it was a terrible weapon, but he could not continue with what he was doing. As Ferdia fought him, he let Ferdia land his hits on him, letting him get inside Ferdia's defenses. He gathered energy at the spear's point as he fought, letting the spear's curse power up, and then, with a single thrust, he pierced Ferdia's heart.

The shower of blood from Ferdia's mouth splattered on Cuchulainn's messy hair and dirty face. Ferdia, now realizing how had won this battle, looked down at the spear point buried in his heart and then smiled faintly at Cuchulainn. "It seems… we know who is the winner… between us, Cuchulainn," he said softly. Then, he fell from the spear to the ground. Cuchulainn's red eyes looked down in horror at his friend.

Arturia watched as Cuchulainn fell to his knees beside his victim, watched him gather the young man into his arms and cry. Why did he weep? Had he not simply fought him to win? Was the fellow someone he knew?

The ultimate in irony would have been a battle between friends. Arturia felt this must be what had happened; for she could not understand why he would weep for someone he did not know. She heard him sing softly and felt her heart almost break with the sound, for it was more mournful than anything she had heard.

Gawain and Bedivere sat atop their horses on either side of her while Emiya stayed behind her, turned away to watch for someone coming up from behind. "A braver man I have not seen," said Gawain. "That man fought a good fight against the hound. He may have lost his life, but he has earned my respect."

"Same here, Gawain," said Bedivere.

Arturia watched as a man came from a tent on their side of the ford and went down to collect Cuchulainn. "Don't go down there, Gawain, Bedivere. Stay here. I will go see to his recovery. Emiya, you come as well and keep watch."

Emiya turned his horse around and nodded. "Yes, my queen."

As the young man pulled Cuchulainn up the side of the ford and to the tent, Arturia trotted over with Emiya behind her. She heard Cuchulainn still speaking, though blood dripped from his mouth and tears stained his cheeks. "Oh, my friend, Laeg. Every other battle I've fought 'till now has been like a game compared to this one I've had with Ferdia," said Cuchulainn as she approached close enough to hear.

Once more, Arturia felt as though her heart were breaking. The pain inside her chest was so much she wondered if it might not be because of a sickness coming over her and not listening to Cuchulainn whimper over the loss of the man he seemed to care so deeply for.

She dismounted from her horse and moved swiftly to the tent on foot, boots sinking into the green grass. As she neared the tent, she heard nothing but small snarls and the occasional imprint of Cuchulainn's fist in the tentcloth. Laeg must have started trying to treat Cuchulainn's wounds.

And, indeed, he was at least attempting to, but Cuchulainn was proving very hard to deal with. If he wasn't biting at him from the pain, he was despondent and depressed. He looked up, however, when a woman with a black fur lined cloak covering her entered. Her hood was drawn up, but she took it down to reveal a head of pale gold hair tied back into a braided bun and held in place with a shining black silk ribbon. Small, silver, crosses adorned her ears, indicating she was indeed a Christian and not of Ireland, for, as far as Laeg knew, Ireland was entirely pagan and the cross did not decorate them.

She looked to Laeg with gold eyes, her face set like that of a doll. "What brings you here, miss?"

"This is the tent of Cuchulainn, correct? I see him wounded on the pallet there, so I should be right. Do you have need of someone to heal him?" she asked.

Laeg offered the potions he had in his hands and she refused them. "I have my own healing method."

Laeg frowned when she took a very large and heavy looking sword and scabbard from her belt. "Miss, if you try to harm him, I will have to kill you." Already, his hand was on his sword and drawing it out.

A young man at the tent flap threw a black, curved short sword at him and missed. "Emiya, please stay outside. He will not harm me, for I will do nothing to harm his friend."

Laeg watched as the unusual looking young man retreat silently, looking a little upset that he wasn't useful then. Laeg knew the feeling, for he was not useful in taking care of Cuchulainn right now. He nodded toward the woman. "Please, if you have another method that is equal or greater to the best potions in the world, I would welcome it. However, please know that he bites… **hard**."

Arturia nodded and moved to Cuchulainn's side. She moved his hands as carefully as she could and placed Excalibur and Avalon onto his chest. Then, she placed her hand onto the scabbard, closing her eyes and pooling what power she could find within herself into Avalon and Excalibur.

Laeg watched with fascination as the sword and scabbard both responded to their owner and pulled with a light like a heart beat. Immediately, he began to see a change in Cuchulainn's visage. His face was becoming less bruised and his eye and jaw less swollen. He stirred as the pretty young woman held her head down in what seemed to be a silent prayer. If Christians were this nice, he might marry a Christian woman one day, as she seemed the sweetest woman he had ever seen.

Arturia opened her eyes slightly when she felt a hand come up and caress the nape of her neck. She saw Cuchulainn's arm raised and his hand behind her, felt his fingers dig into her hair. She looked to his face and saw a smile on his face as he opened his red eyes slightly and gazed at her through his lashes.

It was as though something exploded. One moment Arturia was staring at Cuchulainn in awe and the next, he had used a surprising amount of strength to pull her down on top of him and pressed his mouth hard against hers. She made a strangled noise in her throat as he took her by surprise. She felt his other arm come up and hold her rooted to the spot. The light of Excalibur and Avalon pulsed with a beat like that of a scared bird in a cage. Laeg would have found the entire thing rather amusing had it not been for the strange pulsing light matching the woman's heart rate, or what it should have been when Cuchulainn surprised her.

His mouth was searing hot, moving against her mouth in odd movements that were foreign to her. She felt his tongue trace her mouth as she felt his hands take the ribbon from her hair and pull her hair from the braided bun that it was regularly put into. His fingers in her hair were almost painful with the fierceness that they dug into her scalp with. And what did he want from her while he used that tongue of his against her mouth? She had never been kissed before and found the idea odd.

He nipped at her lower lip; his teeth grazing her lips and making her feel odd with the sensation. Already her lips were swollen from his hard kisses. When that didn't seem to satisfy him, he went back to using his tongue against her mouth. Once more, she was confused and needed to breathe. She used what strength she had in her to move away, breathing in, before he pulled her back to his mouth and pried at her mouth once more. She opened her mouth to him and felt the growl come from within his chest, rather than hear it, as he plunged his tongue into her mouth. It was the most wonderful sensation in the world to her. Foreign and yet good.

She moaned very faintly as he coaxed yet more from her, her own tongue darting into his mouth and feeling his slide against hers. Her body felt hot and Excalibur and Avalon both burned underneath her hand as she felt not only her own heart thumping wildly in her breast, but his as well.

"Miss? I think if you don't move away soon, you'll be taken by the hound himself," said Laeg, blushing faintly at the furiousness of how Cuchulainn kissed the young woman. Since she was a Christian, he doubted she would take kindly to being coaxed so passionately into a pagan man's bed, despite his condition.

Arturia's sense seemed to come to her with crushing reality. She was partially pulled across Cuchulainn's body, her hot body pressed firmly against him. She pulled away from him sharply and landed on her rear, Excalibur and Avalon both still sitting on top of Cuchulainn. Her body wasn't simply hot, it was burning! Her lips felt swollen and she felt an odd hunger inside her for more than what was offered.

She watched as a lazy grin played across his fair face and remembered what Bedivere said. He was a womanizer and married. He most likely was either thinking of his wife or of another conquest. She snatched at Excalibur and found Cuchulainn's hand take hold of her wrist, pulling her down once more. She kissed back immediately this time, loving the way his lips coaxed still more from her. Still, she needed to get back to her men before something was started that she likely would not be able to stop. His kiss this time, however, was not as mind shattering as the previous one. It was gentle and barely delved into her mouth. Panting, she moved a little bit from him. He leaned his head back and sighed, frowning again as sadness started to overcome him. He was starting to go unconscious, though his wounds were all healed from Avalon feeding healing energy into him.

"I think he should be fine, miss," said Laeg, coming closer and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I think you've done more than enough for our hero. Now, I think he needs rest."

Arturia nodded and put a cold hand to her cheek. "Ah, y-yes, you are quite right," she said, still panting from the earlier kiss. She stopped when she looked to his ears and thought a moment. He wore earrings in his ears, unlike a good number of men in Camelot. She noticed a large number in Ireland and Scotland tended to wear earrings. She unhooked one of her earrings and took one of his off, putting hers in its place and his on her ear. Then, she moved away and went out, attempting to put her hair back into order before Emiya, Bedivere and Gawain asked why it was down.

Laeg watched her leave and looked to the simple silver cross now decorating Cuchulainn's right ear. He doubted Cuchulainn would know who had placed it there, but he was certain that he would become very fond of that earring as a woman had bestowed it upon him and likely did it out of love for him. Indeed, Laeg felt a bit bad for stopping the pair before Cuchulainn passed out. The woman seemed very enamored with him and looked as though she was a bit heartbroken to have to leave.

When Arturia made it back over to Bedivere and Gawain, she saw Gawain's grin grow from broad to surpassing the borders of his face. "Did you bring him back to life or kill him?" he asked, teasing her.

Arturia blushed and tied the ribbon back into place. "Please don't be so crude, Gawain," she said.

"My queen, one of your earrings has been…. replaced," said Bedivere.

"I have given it away, it does not matter," she said.

Emiya, however, had heard the sounds coming from the tent. He had heard her yelp of surprise, heard Cuchulainn's growl, like that of a dog or a wolf, and heard her own sigh of pleasure. It made Emiya's skin crawl to remember it, his veins burning with a hatred he was not accustomed to feeling.

They moved away from the tents of either side and made camp not far away. When they tried to sleep, it was then that the curse lifted from the men of Ulster and the battle truly began.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

_**A/N: so I hoped ya'll enjoyed the previous chapter. :3 Now I'm off to do another since I lost pace last night. :3**_

_**Chapter Nineteen**_

Cuchulainn grunted and groaned in his sleep. He was uncomfortable on the pallet as he lay on it. It was quiet outside and he could hear his horses snort not far off. He groaned as he felt his chest for the wounds he had sustained, but found none. He hurt like hell, however.

He remembered the face of Ferdia when he had accused him of being a traitor. He looked so angry and hurt that Cuchulainn should assume the worst of him. Indeed, he had assumed too much. To think that blasted bitch of a queen would use Ferdia against him! Not only that, but she was doing this just to steal their prized bull for settling a score with her own husband!

He opened his eyes slightly and looked to the back of the tent. Laeg was not there where he had been sleeping since they started this stupid battle. Cuchulainn sighed and brought a hand to his mouth. He remembered something had happened while he was dying from his wounds. He could still taste her on his mouth; feel the soft locks of hair entangling his fingers. He could still smell her perfume on him. It had not been a dream, though it felt like one. It felt like the faery kiss he received on the battle field of Camelot. His lips still tingled as did every part of him that she had been pressed firmly against. Arturia Pendragon wasn't as chilly as one might take her for, that was for certain, for he had coaxed the maiden out of her shell a little.

He didn't want to fight anymore. He wanted to refuse anymore torment on the field, for he just didn't have the heart to do it anymore. He had killed his best friend, a man who he called brother. Nothing could make that right, not even killing Maeve herself, though he did entertain the thought. He might as well have killed Emer for all the pleasure of doing that brought him. He couldn't stand the thought of killing either Ferdia or Emer, for both he loved dearly.

He reached up to his ear and touched something odd on his ear. He took the earring out and eyed it. A simple silver cross on an enclosed hook had been on his ear in the place of the pair that he had bought from a trader coming through. He eyed the cross suspiciously before smirking deviously. So the little queen had liked his kiss enough to give him one of her earrings? He chuckled as he put it back on. He would enjoy keeping the trinket, for despite the connotations of the symbol, he enjoyed the idea of it coming off of her.

He recalled what little he could remember of the kiss they had shared. She had placed that sword and scabbard of hers on his chest and started feeding power into his body. When he had come to, he watched her as though she were some sort of faery. She always wore that hair of hers up in that bun that he wanted to see her with her hair down for once, for she always looked so stern. He remembered the adorable squeak she had made when he had kissed her. It had taken a great deal of effort to make her respond, but she did eventually and it was like kissing fire. He felt scorched and cold at the same time.

The sounds of men walking past alerted Cuchulainn. He frowned as he heard men talking and pulling out weapons as they went past toward the ford. He frowned more when he heard shouting and heard two forces clash. So the men of Ulster broke the spell cast upon them? He sighed and lay back against his pallet. He didn't care anymore. He had done his share and now was his time to rest.

The shrieks of young boys snapped him to attention. He heard the wails of the boy corps as they fought and died. His whole body trembled as he brought a hand up to his mouth in revulsion. Did they honestly think they could fight off grown men!?

Laeg ran in and grabbed at Cuchulainn's shoulders. "Get up! We need you, Cuchulainn!" he cried. "The boy corps went out and the men are being killed to the man as well! Please! Fight!"

Were the men still unable to fight up to par from breaking whatever curse had been laid on them? That the boy corps felt they needed to join caused Cuchulainn to grow numb. His friends, the boys he grew up with were still training in that boy corps along with the younger boys who were just learning how to grip a sword!

He shot to his feet and looked out. Though he didn't want to fight, he couldn't keep himself from moving. The horror he faced caused him to feel nauseated. Before him were boys and young men fighting their hardest and being slaughtered. Men of Ulster were in the mix as well, though they were further off. What he had heard going past the tent were the boys talking!

The blood of his old friends, of the boys who were learning to fight and the ones who were old enough to know the ways, all were being slaughtered en masse. Their blood showered everything before the pieces of their bodies fell to the ground, staining the grass red. The horror that Cuchulainn saw also made him angry.

His mind went numb; his body went numb as well. All he could see was blood before him and the people causing it. All he could feel was the thump of his heart in his ribcage. His body elongated, his teeth grew sharp and his ears grew long. His eyes grew wider and more lupine as his limbs stretched even longer than his body. As continued to grow, he advanced through the ford to the mess before his eyes. He ran and then joined the battle. Massive claws ripped flesh; large sharp teeth tore men's arms off. He ripped and shredded all who were before him without a thought for who it was in front of him, for his mind was beyond that now.

Kill.

Kill.

KILL!

* * *

Arturia sat up in her sleeping bag. She looked around and heard the noises of a battle. Bedivere was already pulling his axe out, though he kept an eye on her for her approval. She nodded and then she woke Emiya and Gawain. Emiya had not been trained for battle, had never been in a genuine fight, but she felt it might be a good time to let him do his best.

They moved silently along the edge of the ford until they came to a view of the most gruesome sight Arturia had ever seen. Young boys and young men were slaughtered all. In the middle of the mess were Connacht soldiers and a giant creature that Arturia could only describe as dog-like. She had seen it only once before and it had come at her and Gilgamesh while they dueled. It was Cuchulainn's war spasm.

Arturia grabbed Excalibur from her belt and ran down into the battle. Bedivere and Gawain shouted at her, though she couldn't hear them. Gawain and Bedivere, seeing their queen run in without a care for herself, ran in after her, Emiya close behind with Kansho and Bakuya in his hands.

The mess seemed to open up and accept the newcomers, the monster that was Cuchulainn ripping apart men and tossing them aside like they were dolls. Arturia swung her sword and sliced men apart as she joined the battle. However, when she reached Cuchulainn's side, she was picked up as well, as though he had mistaken her for one of the Connacht men.

Arturia looked at the bright, glowing red eyes of the beast as he held her up. It leaned forward to take a bite of her, but sniffed at her instead, its elongated snout moving along her neck and armor clad breast. She felt his tongue slide across what skin was exposed, wanting desperately to get away. She kicked him on the jaw and fell to the ground as he wailed in fury.

An arrow shot right into the beast's shoulder. Arturia turned to see Emiya with bow strung and ready to fire again. "NO! EMIYA! DON'T SHOOT HIM!" she called.

Emiya blinked and frowned, bringing his bow down slightly before bringing it up again and shooting at a man coming at Bedivere from behind. Bedivere saw the man fall back with an arrow in his eye and looked to Emiya. For the first time, Bedivere appreciated the boy's combat skills.

The sound of a bull being shoved off alerted Arturia. Maeve was retreating with the bull, leaving her men to fight while she got away. The men started retreating as well when they saw Maeve moving off quickly. She ran after them beside Gawain as the beast headed straight for the men moving away.

She looked to Gawain and nodded. "Toss me up to his shoulder! I need to get it out!"

Gawain laughed. "This might be the only time I get permission to toss you!" Then, he picked her up by her waist and threw her up onto Cuchulainn's back. She latched onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Cuchulainn roared and tried to pry her off, hitting her and clawing at her. She reached for the arrow and grabbed it; pulling it out with some difficulty. He roared again when she pulled it free from his shoulder and grabbed her. He threw her and snarled as he groped his bleeding shoulder. Arturia hit a tree and slid down. She stood slowly and groaned as she felt Avalon healing her ribs.

They chased after Cuchulainn for nearly a mile before they found him on the ground, exhausted from the war spasm and loss of blood. Gawain picked him up and looked to Laeg as he drove the chariot over to them. The men of Ulster were running past them as they went after Connacht's forces. Cuchulainn, hero of Ulster, had fought well and now they too would fight just as bravely.

Arturia watched the men as they ran past, watched them smile as they passed her and Cuchulainn. She wondered how many of them remembered her before she remembered that Cuchulainn needed attention. She pulled Avalon off her belt and put Excalibur into it before once more placing it on Cuchulainn's chest and feeding power into it. He didn't stir like he had the last time. He seemed to simply accept the help and did nothing but let the scabbard do what it was meant to do.

When it was done, she took Avalon off of his chest and leaned over him. "Are you feeling better now, Cuchulainn?" she asked.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her, his eyes glazed from exhaustion. He smiled faintly and reached up, his fingers just touching her hair before they fell back to his chest. "Little faery queen," he mumbled and then passed out.

Arturia frowned and looked to Laeg. "What will you do now?"

"Take him back home, to where he belongs. He can't do anything more for Ulster right now the way he is. He'll sleep for a very long time before he'll be recovered, I think, for it was his friend he had killed on that field and those were his comrades that were slaughtered before his eyes. He'll not want to do anything for a while except be with a woman," said Laeg, smiling faintly.

Arturia's cheeks heated at the memory of Cuchulainn's lips against hers, his hands pulling her ever tighter against his body, as though she couldn't be close enough to him. She wondered if he was that way with all his women.

Bedivere snorted and put his axe on his shoulder. "I bet any woman would satisfy him," he muttered.

Laeg eyed Bedivere coolly and smirked. "Actually, Cuchulainn's very particular about the woman he takes to bed with him. They have to be bold or have a spark in their soul, as he likes to put it. It draws him in like a flame and he can't help but touch it. But, the flame bends to his will once he does instead of burning him."

Gawain grinned. "A man after my own heart," he laughed. "Come, little cousin, let us be off before this brings us more into their conflict. After all, you had only wanted to see to his welfare."

Laeg eyed Arturia. "See to his welfare? How do you know him, miss?"

Arturia blushed and looked away. "Nothing of import. I simply heard that the hound of Ulster was fighting alone and wished to see if he were all right."

Laeg smirked and nodded. "I see. Farewell, then, miss. I bid you a safe journey home to Briton."

Arturia nodded and turned. Emiya came up with the horses, grinning slightly at his accomplishment. "I did it! I got to ride like you do!"

Arturia got onto her horse and turned it around. "Thank you, Emiya. Let us leave. Bedivere! Gawain! Come!"

Gawain shook his head and swung up into his saddle. "She's embarrassed, mate, don't let 'er get to you."

Laeg chuckled. "I've heard worse, believe me."

"GAWAIN!"

"Coming AUNTY," said Gawain, laughing as he nudged his horse after Arturia. Bedivere took one last look at Cuchulainn laying on his chariot before galloping after his queen and his fellow knight.

* * *

The journey seemed to take less time than it had when they were going to Ulster. Arturia let them stay in town inns along the way, getting good food and shelter from the weather instead of winging it out in the frozen air. She was more distracted with the term "faery queen" that Cuchulainn had muttered with a smile when he touched her hair. Why had he called her that? She was no faery. She was simply human.

When they reached Camelot, Agravaine greeted her with a snort and Gaheris grinned at her. Merlin told her of the goings on of Camelot while she had been away and she sat down for the long discussion. Gawain told his brothers of their battle against Connacht, of Arturia going to see to Cuchulainn's wounds and of the way Cuchulainn fought while in his berserker rage.

However, Emiya stayed out of the whole thing, staying away on the outside. He watched Arturia with the satisfaction that he had done well in the fight, though he had barely done anything. He had hit Cuchulainn and that brought him a rather nice feeling. Then, he heard it; people whispering in the hall.

He moved to the shadows and listened carefully.

"She's impulsive and conniving and scheming!"

"I know, but we have to endure her, because she is queen," said another voice.

"Best be quiet about it. I hear that weird looking fellow she keeps as a pet is her eyes and ears and that he has been sneaking around gathering information for her."

"All right. Let's leave and forget this even ever occurred for now."

Emiya moved to see who it was that had been talking and frowned when he didn't see anyone. They must have moved off quicker than he could to look around the corner. He moved back and looked back at Arturia talking to Merlin. He was her eyes and ears because she asked it of him.

With that, he moved away from the wall and went into the kitchen to cook.


	21. Chapter Twenty

_**A/N: soooo… ya'll liked the last chapter, eh? XD I liked the Auntie-Tossing. XD Now that's going to be a new Olympic sport.**_

_**Chapter Twenty**_

A few years passed since the Cattle Raid. After the battle, Cuchulainn had woken up on his chariot with Laeg grinning down at him with that wide grin of his and commenting on how he had won the heart of a Christian woman like the devil he is. Cuchulainn had laughed, but had no idea what his friend was referring to until he once more touched the cross on his ear and remembered. He remembered her kiss and the small amount of woman behind the cold shell. When he had made it back to Ulster, Emer didn't seem to notice the strange earring in his ear, but only seemed to care that he was back safely. For that, he gave her a winning grin and let her take care of him.

Years later, he wore the earring still in his ear, though not as much as he did when he came home from battling the forces of Connacht. Only now did Emer watch him oddly. "Why do you wear that cross, Cuchulainn? It seems out of place on you," she said, frowning faintly, though not unpleasantly so.

Cuchulainn had forgotten it, actually, though he remembered its significance when he touched it. "Ah… no reason, really. Thought it looked nice and I lost the mate for this one," he said as he pointed to the other earring, which was a pair of dangling silver bars. "This one I found outside a few years back and thought it looked nice, though it too doesn't have a mate."

Emer watched him, only now showing a bit of anger as she frowned deeply at Cuchulainn. She went back to her sewing and looked away from him, clearly irritated. "Cu… please know that… I don't mind it if you find a warm bed with another woman," she said softly. "I will accept you, so long as you keep your vow of only being married to me, for I can't imagine life without you in it with me as my husband." Her voice softened more and she looked up with the gentlest gaze she had ever offered him. She smiled faintly before speaking. "When I married you, I knew you were as wild as nature. The Great Hound of Ulster would be greater still in his near future and I knew that with that fame would come many women who would vie for your interest. You seem very particular, and for that I am glad, for you chose only me to be your wife. As long as you come back to me, I will love you. However…"

Cuchulainn's heart thumped oddly in his chest as he hung his head. "Please don't lie to me, Cu. I'm not stupid and I don't appreciate being treated as though I am," she said gently.

Cuchulainn smiled faintly at Emer. Did he really deserve such a generous woman when he was so selfish in return? "I was given it by a woman passing through. She healed my wounds and I kissed her when I was in a fever from the potions she gave me. She must have enjoyed it, for I woke with this earring in my ear and the other was gone. I don't remember who it was."

"They say that Queen Arturia had come through to check on the battle against Connacht, though she didn't come with troops. It could have been her, you know. She is a Christian and she also carries something on her that heals her every wound flawlessly. Rumor has it she has not changed once since she was crowned," said Emer as she stitched the cloth in front of her.

Cuchulainn nodded. "It might have been her. However, I doubt it. She's as cold as her country," he said, leaning back against the chair he sat in lazily.

Emer stayed silent as she stitched the cloth in front of her. "I heard that Briton's food stores have become low and they're beginning to beg for it at Scotland and Ireland."

"We have enough for ourselves, but not all o' them as well," said Cuchulainn. "They'll have to do something about planting crops that grow even in that snow."

Emer frowned once more at Cuchulainn. "You're being very cold and indifferent and I would like to know why," she said.

Cuchulainn looked off away from Emer, thinking. He too had heard rumors. That the queen had a lackey she used to gather information from far off in her lands to feed her what they did and who spoke of her and who bared her ill will. It felt wrong what he heard, for the letter she had sent him before had been the most sincere plea for help he had ever seen. Such a person could not be as cold and callous as the rumors claimed.

"It's nothing, really, Emer," he said softly. "I'm just… thinking."

Emer frowned more and went back to stitching. "If whatever is causing you to act so cold comes to you, please inform me."

Cuchulainn smiled at his wife and leaned over, kissing her cheek and nuzzling against her temple. "You are far too sweet for your own good, wife."

Emer blushed faintly and smiled at Cuchulainn, kissing him in return. "And you are far too difficult to deal with at times, hound."

Cuchulainn pouted slightly, making Emer giggle. He grinned when his goal had been achieved and sat beside her on the sofa. She went back to her sewing and let him lean her against his warmth.

* * *

Emiya had grown considerably since he had first arrived. His body was more developed and manly, his face had lost most of the boyish roundness and become more angular, his face still looking odd, though less so now. He looked more like his Asian brethren than he did when he was younger, though his face was still very unusual looking. His skin had become more tanned from his work outside and his hair had grown a bit longer and shaggier. Arturia had complained to him once about it, but he refused to cut it any shorter than he kept it usually. His skills in archery had become far better than Arturia had expected of him, as did his skills with a blade. He had started becoming hard to battle for her. It had come to the point where she no longer wanted to duel him because she knew she was going to become very dirty and beaten up from fighting him.

As she watched him help the farmers feeding the castle plant some vegetables, she saw the browning skin of his back, saw the pale scars of a whip and saw the many cuts and scrapes she had caused on him. His back was a strong one, muscled and toned and growing still. His shoulders had grown wide and his waist became slim. He was very handsome, pretty even, but she had never seen him follow after another woman other than her. It somewhat troubled her that her pet did not wish to mate with a woman. She knew he didn't fancy men, for he sneered and was cold to men.

Arturia herself hadn't grown at all, unlike the men and women around her. Merlin was looking the same as he had when he had given her Excalibur, but he was the only one. Gawain had grown broad in his shoulders and more muscled, his face, angular and fair like that of Cuchulainn. Bedivere had grown as well, though his cloak now covered both arms, hiding his missing hand from everyone. If anything, he had become as beautiful as a woman, though Arturia could still see him as a man.

She looked down at the wall of the castle and saw Gawain's brother Agravaine talking to someone dressed in a cloak. She frowned and moved back slightly so she would not be seen at her window.

"I have the potion with me here. Serve this and all will go to plan," said a woman's voice, though very faint.

"Very well," said Agravaine. "Be careful, that lapdog of the queen's is always about… listening at walls and keyholes."

"I know. Just do as I ask and all will be well," said the woman. Then, everything went silent.

Arturia looked out and saw that they had disappeared. She frowned and moved back into her room. Who had been plotting and to what end were they plotting against? Agravaine was a thorn in her side, one that irritated her far more than a thorn, actually, for the betrayal of one of her knights was far greater than that of her guardsmen whom she had slaughtered a few years earlier.

As she sat back in her chair, she thought about the exchange. When dinner came, she went down and took her dinner at the dining hall table with Emiya at her side. Emiya had taken up an attitude of superiority that she did not understand. He was her servant and did what she asked, but would ignore her knights when they asked something of him. It was as though she alone was the master of a willful dog.

And, indeed, she was the master of a willful dog. Emiya sat beside his queen with the single good thought that had become his focal point in doing her dirty work. **She **asked him. No one else asked him, for he was not their servant. He was **HER** servant alone. He had come across this thought a year or so ago when he was gathering information and had come back to see the knights were talking without her there. She had overslept and was inside her chambers while they talked about the growing famine that was starting to plague Briton. Without her there, there was no need for him to talk to the men. She was the reason he did the things he did, and she alone would be the one to receive his information.

Suddenly, Arturia dropped her spoon on the table and trembled, eyes wide. He took the spoon and sniffed it. It had a strange aroma to it. Gawain looked over and his eyes widened as well. "She's got a spell of some sort on her! It's all over her!"

Indeed, something seemed to be happening to Arturia. Her shoulders grew wider, thought she hardly grew any taller. Her face became manlier looking, though still the youthful look of a sixteen year old boy. She fell out of her seat and Emiya dropped to her side, holding her up. "My queen?"

Arturia's eyes rolled around as she took in her surroundings. Her hips had shrunk and her chest had become muscled instead of the relatively small soft mounds on her breast. She had become a man. Merlin raised his eyebrows as he looked at her. "It seems there was a potion in her food," he said.

Emiya frowned deeply and helped his queen up, though now she was a man. "Why would anyone put a potion in her meal to make her into a man?"

Merlin shrugged. "Probably to play a joke on her," he said, trying not to smile. "I have entertained such thoughts as to turn her into a man to see how she fairs."

Emiya grunted and picked up Arturia and walked over to the stairs. "I will take her up," he said.

Gawain jumped up. "Why the hell would anyone do that? Arturia's a good woman, why the hell would anyone want her to be a man?"

"Because it's funny," said Gaheris, sniggering behind his hand.

Merlin took the soup she had been eating and eyed it. It must still have the potion in it. He smiled faintly at the men. "I'll be off then. Inform me if anything else happens." Then, he turned on the spot and disappeared with a deafening crack.

"How does he do that? And why does it always have to be so damn loud?" gruumbled Bedivere. "I know he's a wizard, but the crack bothers me a great deal."

Gawain shrugged. "Not a clue. I just take it as is and leave it alone."

While the men in the hall continued to eat, Merlin set to work. He summoned a mirror and tapped his wand to it. "Give me Hogwarts," he said to it.

The mirror shimmered and a small woman appeared on it, blonde hair down to her shoulders and amber eyes eyeing Merlin suspiciously. "Yes? Who is this? How do you come to have one of these?" she said.

"Professor Weasley-Riddle, I presume," said Merlin. "I have need of a house elf to give you a sample that needs to be broken down. I believe that it is the reason that my pupil has suddenly become a man."

"Astra's not that good at breaking potions down, but Snape is. I'll get him to deal with it," said Professor Weasley-Riddle. She stopped and came back to the mirror. "You're that boy… Merlin."

Merlin nodded. "I thought you might recognize me, though I have aged… unlike you, my professor." He smiled faintly and caused the woman to blush faintly.

"My name is Amber, you are old enough that you can use it, Merlin," she said.

Merlin chuckled and looked over when a loud crack announced the arrival of a house elf. The house elf bowed and held up his hand. Merlin gave him a phial of the soup and nodded. "Thank you," he said just before the house elf disappeared with another crack. "And thank you, Amber. I'm sorry you will have to deal with Snape, but I'm certain it will be worth it."

"He's been causing more havoc as a ghost than he did as a human," said Amber with mild irritation. "Minerva's the only one that can keep him relatively quiet, but they cause more noise when they float around growling and kids become traumatized when they hear him call her his little 'love kitten'. It's very creepy, but at least it keeps him out of my hair."

"Yes, I'm sure. I remember that behavior all too well," said Merlin, smiling faintly. Amber nodded and then waved to him as he said "good bye" before the mirror only showed his face reflected on its silver surface.

"Let's see who would make a potion to turn Arturia into a man and to what end would this achieve," he mumbled to himself as he leaned back in his chair.

* * *

Arturia lay in bed where Emiya had put her, her naked form very much like that of a man. Emiya frowned when he saw it and covered her as well as he could before going to his place in the sitting room next to the fire, shutting her door behind him.

However, something fell over the room that he could never understand fully. He knew how to use his imaging magic, but he knew nothing of any other form of magic besides that. It was like a fog coming down over everything. It made Emiya sleepy and made him wobble as he tried to stand. However, he simply ended up landing on his simple bed beside the fire and fell unconscious.

A womanly figure wearing a long dark cloak walked through the room. She opened Arturia's door and walked in, locking the door behind her. Then, she went over to Arturia's bed and pulled the covers from Arturia's new male body. With that, the woman crawled onto the bed and leaned over Arturia's hips.

* * *

Arturia was having a strange dream. She felt as though she weren't in her own body, as though she was simply borrowing another person's body and was feeling what that person felt as an outsider. She felt soft hands touching her body, but her body wasn't that of her own female body, but that of a man. She felt a woman's soft flesh against her and felt something warm envelope a strange area of the borrowed body and pull on it.

It made Arturia's mind reel and caused her to jump and jerk. Why was this dream even occurring? She was a woman! Why was another woman even daring to touch her?! Then, it was like an explosion occurred, her body seemed to erupt on its own and still she felt the strange sensations continue. The wet, warm thing covering that strange area of her was unbearable! Why did it continue?! She jerked more underneath the woman's administrations and squirmed to get away from her. She started to cry from frustration when she couldn't do anything. She was trapped and bound, like a bird with broken wings.

She felt herself explode once more and then gasped for breath. The warm, wet, thing that had taken her so roughly was gone and all that was left was the bitter cold. Then, her covers were placed back over her body before she heard the strange woman leave. Good riddance! How dare she assault another woman so!?

The woman passed through the sitting room and took the foggy spell down. She held a phial of some white substance in her hand and had to wipe a bit of stickiness from her mouth, frowning in disgust. "I hate doing this sort of thing," she muttered. "But it is for the future that I have planned." Then, she walked out quickly.

* * *

A loud crack caused Emiya to jump to his feet. He shot straight into Arturia's bedchamber and found her still sleeping. He walked over and moved the covers back to check if anything unseen had occurred. Arturia's male body was covered in a very fine perspiration and was cooling quickly. Her masculine face was flushed and she was panting slightly, her manly chest rising and falling hard. He looked to her newly formed penis and frowned. There was a sticky substance around her stomach and it didn't take Emiya much to figure out what had occurred. A woman or someone had put the potion in the soup to turn Arturia into a man so they would be able to have sex with Arturia. He pulled the covers back over her body and turned around, going back to his bed. He would have to inform Merlin about this, for he trusted no one else with his queen's welfare accept himself.

The mirror lit up once more and Merlin picked it up. "Hello?"

A woman with long white hair pulled back into a long braid appeared in the mirror, blue-gray eyes eyeing Merlin for a moment before her strong face broke into a broad grin. "So! It seems little Merlin's grown up!" She stopped and eyed him a moment longer and blushed faintly, looking away. "And looking just like the movie. Wow, that's creepy."

"Pardon?" Merlin did not enjoy it when his old history professor tended to ramble to herself about things he had no idea about.

She waved a hand dismissively at him and held up the phial. "You wanted to know what was in this, right? Snape helped me pick it apart. I'm not real good with doing that, but he did help a great deal so… Anyway, what it is seems to be a gender change potion much like the one I gave to the twins to use in their joke shop. Only that one was still being developed and they finished it for me," said his professor.

"Professor Malfoy, it's nice to see you looking well," he said, grinning faintly.

Professor Malfoy waved her hand at him once more. "It's Astra, Merlin. And it's Malfoy-Elric now. I married two Elrics and Draco came back from the dead." She huffed slightly and rubbed her face. "Never in my life… never… would I have ever imagined I'd end up with three."

Merlin smiled faintly and leaned back with the mirror in his hand. "Can you make an antidote?"

"Well, I can certainly try, Merlin," she said, her Texas accent coming out more. He remembered the day when he had to ask why she spoke so differently from everyone. She had to tell him about living in America before the Great War destroyed her ability to go back home.

Merlin nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Astra. When can I expect it done?"

"Oh… I don't know. Probably a few hours. It depnds on how many breaks I need to take to get away from Mr. Loud-mouthed-snarky-know-it-all who keeps backseat driving," she said with a grimace.

"I heard that, Mrs. Malfoy," said a smooth voice from behind her. A silvery looking man with long, dark, oily hair floated behind her, glaring imperiously down his hooked nose at her.

"Oh shut up before I sick Minerva on you for acting up, Snape," snapped Astra. She turned to Merlin and nodded. "I'll get back to you in a while. See ya!" Then, the mirror returned to reflecting only his face as he sat back once more.

Merlin smiled faintly as he gazed at the mirror. It was as though he were at Hogwarts as a boy, watching his teachers bicker good-naturedly at each other. Some didn't get along with others, but they stuck together when things got rough and things had become rough when he was going to the school. They had to continuously rebuilt parts of the castle themselves and employed the help of the older students so they could finish the job more quickly. The used alchemy and magic to accomplish it all.

And so, Merlin waited in his chambers, waiting for news of an antidote and unknowing of the event that had taken place inside the castle while he had to deal with getting the mixture analyzed.


	22. Chapter Twenty One

_**A/N: Kudos to HAtterofWonderland for making me snort hot chocolate from her comment. XD Aaaah yeah.. anyway… glad ya'll enjoyed Astra and Snape bitching at eachother. XD**_

_**Chapter Twenty-One**_

Arturia woke up and looked at herself. Her body was a man's body and it made her feel very odd. She got up and stretched, shivering slightly at the chill of the room before going over to the fireplace and stoking the fire that Emiya had built for her. She rubbed her arms and picked up her hand mirror. Her hair was still the same length, and her eyes still gold, but her face was masculine. Her shoulders were broader and her stomach muscled, but she was still fairly short. She sighed and looked around for something to wear. Giving up on her usual dresses, she went in search of Emiya for some of his clothing.

A knock on the main door caught her attention. She pulled a cloak over herself and walked to it, holding the cloak closed up to her neck as she went through the sitting room to the main door and opened it. Gawain grinned at her. "Seems you're awake, then, eh, cousin?" he said with a wink.

Arturia's face remained a humorless mask. "What is it you want, Gawain," she said; her voice very low. It surprised her enough that her eyes widened and her hand shot up to her mouth.

Gawain chuckled and held up a pile of clothes. "I brought some of mine and thought it might work for you. You're a lot shorter than me, but I'm sure we can figure something out for you!" He grinned and walked in, Arturia watching him with interest.

"Are you staying?" she asked.

"Of course!" he said. He pulled up a pair of trousers and grinned at Arturia. "I'm going to help you get dressed! After all, I'm sure you don't know how to fix these so that they will fit a bit better on you, do you?"

Arturia didn't want to admit that she was helpless for the moment. She frowned deeply at Gawain as he came over to her. "Fine," she said.

"Good, now put these on and I'll fix it," said Gawain, holding the trousers out to Arturia.

Arturia frowned and looked at them. They were similar to her long underwear, which she rarely wore except in the colder temperatures for they were uncomfortable to her. She put them on and Gawain got down on his knees and started fiddling with the bottom of the trousers, tying them up so that they formed to her legs. "Okay… ah.. tie that fly there and I'll get you a shirt."

Arturia looked down at herself and saw her trouser front was still undone, so she tied it before being assaulted by a red shirt. "Oi! What are you doing?! I can put a shirt on myself!" she grunted.

"Yeah yeah, but you're not fast enough to beat me to it," Gawain laughed. He pulled the hole of the shirt, which was massive compared to Arturia, over her head and then gave her the laces. "Tie it up and I'll work on the sleeves."

Arturia growled faintly and worked the laces of her ill fitting shirt carefully, glaring at Gawain slightly. He busied himself with rolling her sleeves up to her wrists and tying them up so that they stayed. When he was done, she watched him go back over to pick up a coat and pulled it onto her, this time with little argument from Arturia as she put her arms through the sleeves. Gawain buttoned the coat and pulled the sleeves back as well as he could so that her hands could be seen and then cinched the back of the coat so that it fit across the shoulders and around the waist on her. "You're acting like a seamstress, Gawain," said Arturia, smirking faintly at her nephew.

"Very funny, auntie," said Gawain, smirking deviously before he tugged the cinches tighter. Arturia let out a gasp and took a swing at Gawain. Gawain laughed and backed away. "You asked for it with that seamstress comment, auntie," he said.

Arturia pouted silently as Gawain went over and pulled up a tabard with Cannick's crest on it. "Apologies for the lack of dragon, cousin, this is all my stuff," he said with a sheepish grin. Arturia smiled faintly and nodded to him as he walked over and pulled the tabard over her and belted it. "There we go! A little king!" he said cheerfully.

"My height doesn't come into it, Gawain," said Arturia, glaring at her nephew.

Gawain chuckled and walked to the door. "Come down to breakfast, we're waiting for you," he said before disappearing out the door.

Arturia looked at herself in the long mirror in her room. She frowned at herself, for her clothes still looked too big on her and she had not put on a pair of boots. The boots that Gawain had left had several stockings stuffed into them. She put on a pair that were in the boots and then put them on, frowning at how they wiggled on her feet. She sighed and tied them before going down to the main hall to eat.

Bedivere looked up at Arturia when she entered and blinked. "Ah..!" He stood up and bowed to Arturia as he usually did. "Apologies, my queen, I forgot…"

"Am I really that odd looking?"

Bedivere looked up as Gawain blinked at Arturia. "Eh? No, it's just that… I forgot that you had been changed into a man, my queen. I was apologizing for not greeting you like I normally do."

Arturia nodded and sat down stiffly. Merlin wasn't at the table and neither was Emiya. She wondered where they were before Merlin came in. "Master Merlin, do you have something to rid me of this blasted condition?"

Merlin smiled faintly at Arturia and sat down to eat. "Apologies, Arturia, but the people I'm working with have been having trouble trying to make an antidote for the potion. They will prevail, no doubt, but it'll take a little while."

Arturia sighed and nodded. "I see, Merlin." Then, she started eating.

* * *

Emiya skirted along the edge of a ridge, watching the woman on her horse ride leisurely out toward the nearest town of Leoness. She was headed North West, near Wales. Emiya watched as the dark haired woman continued on before coming out and getting on his horse to follow after her.

The woman had gone out of Camelot after she had done whatever she had done to Arturia. He had noticed her tracks when he came out and noticed that she had not gone far when he rode out to catch up to her. He saw her come into sight and took another path to get onto higher ground once more. He saw her face this time. She was a pretty woman with a very lovely face, though she looked cold, much like Arturia looked normally. She had long dark hair, almost black, that was pulled over her shoulder and cascaded down over her breast in curls.

What need did the woman have for Arturia's now male body and her newly formed male seed? It seemed to him that the woman had paid someone to slip the potion into Arturia's soup so that she could manually retrieve Arturia's seed. But for what reason? Arturia was a woman and would have stayed that way had it not been for this woman and her cunning use of a gender change potion.

They were nearing Leoness and Emiya frowned. He didn't want to be away from Arturia for long, so he needed to do something about the woman soon or be stuck in Leoness until he could get back home the next day.

He formed a bow and an arrow in his hands and strung up the bow, pulling it taut and aiming it at the woman's horse's neck. He frowned. Then, he let it loose.

Morgan yelped as her horse reared and threw her. The horse had a black arrow in his neck and fell over on his side, gasping. She pulled herself up as fast as she could and ran to find cover. Whoever was shooting at her had missed and she wasn't about to take the chance he would make his target!

Suddenly, she looked up and there was a man standing before her. He was clad in all black leather, his coat was leather, his shirt was leather and tightly tailored to his body, his trousers and boots were leather as well. His sleeves ended at his fingers oddly, only covering two middle fingers and his thumbs. Usually, she might have said that was the mark of an archer, but it didn't seen right even still. The man's hair was shaggy looking and fell into his eyes in reddish brown locks, though parts of it were turning white. Despite the strange white hair he was starting to have, he looked young, no more than twenty-two at best. His face was odd as well. He looked Asian, though his face was more angular and had a strong jaw and a larger nose, like he was a Caucasian/Asian halfbreed. She had seen a few among the Asian traders coming through. They'd take a Briton/Welsh/Irish/Scottish woman as his bride and they would have an unusual looking child that looked like both sides and made people not want them near for they looked so odd. He was also not pale, but tanned, as though he worked in the sun like a peasant. He was clearly a servant of some sort or a slave.

"Who are you? What do you want? I don't have much money, so you won't make a profit off of me!" she called out to him.

He looked up at her and she noticed three or four pale claw marks across his face, marring the odd handsomeness of his features. He was indeed handsome, though his face was really strange to look at. "What do you want? Why are you harassing me, stranger?" she called again.

"You're a witch and you turned my mistress into a man, didn't you," he said; his voice low and smooth to her ears. If she weren't so afraid, she might have felt nice shivers run over her back.

"Did I? I think you have the wrong person, sir," she said, attempting to look helpless. She didn't want to show this man that she could possibly be a person who could defend herself. However, it didn't seem to work on the man, for he just simply continued to glare at her.

"You are lying," he said.

She frowned. So much for acting helpless! She pulled out her wand and sent off a curse at the man, surprised that he dodged it fairly well. She started whipping curses at him as he ran around trying to avoid being hit. Finally, she grew tired of playing with him and started tossing about the more serious curses, trying to get him stuck in one spot so she could finish him off.

She didn't see the short sword he had lobbed at her. It missed her head by six inches, whirling around her to come back to the man. He had somehow produced a pair of short swords, one black and one white. Was he an imaging mage?!

"Now that I have your attention," he said, "Why is it that you have need of my mistress's seed?"

"It's none of your business!" she snarled.

The swords in his hands shimmered in the growing light of the morning sun. He advanced forward when she did nothing and dodged when she shot a spell at him. There was no other way for him to get at her without using his more drastic techniques. She watched as the swords disappeared from his hands and he stood with his eyes closed. A light started underneath him and spread toward her. She tried to move away, but it enveloped her. Her surroundings disappeared and were replaced by a cold land filled with swords all stuck into the ground. The snow under her feet crunched slightly as she stepped back. In front of her stood the man, this time holding his hand up and a ball of energy seemed to be gathering in his hand.

"Yeild now… or I will kill you," he said, though he didn't look as though he meant that. His face betrayed the lack of want for killing, though was set in a determined look.

Morgan was defenseless for once. For once, she did not know how to defeat this strange wizard, for as she looked up at the sky, numerous swords had gathered above her and seemed poised to strike at her like a rain of arrows. "I… I yield," she said, staring up wide eyed at the mess of swords pointed at her.

The strange world she had witnessed disappeared and the man was in front of her, searching her for something. When he didn't seem to find what he wanted, he formed a pair of shackles around her hands and pulled her to his horse. "You will come with me. My mistress will deal with you," he said softly.

"You don't like killing," she said as she eyed her captor.

"No… but I'll do it if it is necessary," he said.

"And what would you deem unnecessary?"

He stopped and looked to her. "An innocent person. Someone who doesn't deserve death," he said.

She smirked. Oh how she liked a good soft mind to play with. "Really, and what makes a person innocent? We're all guilty of something. That is the way life is," she said softly.

He frowned at her. "Someone who's murdered another person, someone who's stolen, someone who's betrayed someone."

"All of which people do in their daily lives. I'm sure you've done similar. You're spied on someone, I'm sure. I'm sure you've stolen something before. I'm sure you've betrayed someone before." She smirked evilly as the man's eyes grew wide and fearful. "I'm sure you have murdered before…."

He shot away from her and held up one of his strange blades. "Shut up!"

She smirked and made the shackles break. "I see I was right. Tell me then, dear young man, should you kill yourself for being a murderer? Should you kill yourself for being a traitor, a thief or a spy or a liar?"

She put up a shield this time when the man threw his sword at her and ran at her. "SHUT UP!" he snarled and flung the other sword at her. Again, it merely bounced off her shield as he formed another pair in his hands. She heard the blades moving around behind her and put up another shield. He threw the second pair of swords at her and all four came flying straight at her from every side. The shield she put up was almost not enough, for one got through and sliced her arm. She whipped her wand at the man and snarled. "CRUCIO!"

The young man screamed in agony as he fell to the ground, twitching. She moved away from him and went to her horse. She pulled the arrow from the horse's neck and observed the wound. The horse was still alive, though he had lost a great deal of blood. She pulled out a blood replenishing potion and a healing potion and poured the healing potion on the wound before feeding the other to the horse.

The man trembled as he shoved himself slowly to his feet. She turned in time to see his hair starting to turn whiter, his eyes wide and unseeing. She pulled her wand out, ready for him to attack, but when she saw that he wasn't attacking, she sent another cruciatus curse at him, sending him sprawling on the snowy ground, twitching and screaming in agony. "Don't hesitate to kill someone, boy," she said harshly, "For it will be your undoing." She helped the horse up and got onto his back. The horse wobbled slightly, but he stayed upright as she nudged him forward at a fast pace. As she galloped away, she saw the young man laying curled up and covering his head with his arms in a fetal position.

* * *

Arturia still had not seen Emiya come around when lunchtime came. She frowned and walked to Merlin's tower to ask him about the potion to restore her body to being female. On her way, she saw a black horse headed through the gates, a man clad in black and had white hair slumped over on his horse.

She ran toward the horse and found her shoes too floppy to run in. "Guards! Guards! Get that man off his horse now! Someone! Get a doctor!" she called as she ran over to the slumped body of Emiya.

She ran over just as the guards pulled Emiya off his horse and laid him out on the ground. She patted his cheek and checked his body. He wasn't really damaged, though he had small burns on his body. What really struck Arturia was his hair; it had turned as white as the snow. She continued to pat his cheek before Merlin came over and handed her a potion. "Got an antidote, Arturia. Take it. I'll deal with him," he said as he looked over Emiya.

Arturia nodded and took the potion, feeling herself grow hot. Her body felt as though it were melting and shrinking. She looked to her hands and watched as they went from masculine to small and feminine, the sleeves of her coat and shirt covering her hands now.

Merlin checked Emiya and blinked in confusion. "He's been hit with a curse," he said.

"A curse?"

"Yes, a bad one at that. It's one of the unforgivable curses, though it has been taken up again as a normal one since the Great War destroyed the ministry of magic," he said as he looked around. "Guards, could you take him to the main hall? I'll come back with a potion for his condition."

The guards nodded and picked up Emiya, toting him off toward the castle. Arturia followed after them, though with some trouble as she kept tripping in the boots and her trousers were falling off her hips a bit. When she reached the castle, she knelt down beside Emiya as Merlin walked down the stairwell.

"What are these unforgivable curses? Why were they banned and why they in are use now if they were banned before?" she asked.

"I'll explain later in my tower. Right now, I must treat Emiya," he said.

Arturia stayed silent as Merlin dealt with Emiya's injuries and then instructed the doctor to keep an eye on him. Then, he took Arturia's wrist and pulled her up the stairs to his tower. She kept stumbling as they walked, so he had to stop to help her take the boots off and roll her trouser legs up. As she walked up, her feet grew cold from the chilly stones. They reached Merlin's room in the tower. She went over to the fireplace and sat down with her feet toward the fire, warming up.

"Unforgivable curses are the three curses which used to be banned in the wizarding world, Arturia," said Merlin as he walked over to a chair and sat down. "They hurt and kill and torment people, therefore they are unforgivable curses. They require the user to really want to do harm or whatnot to the victim."

"If they are so awful, then why was the ban lifted on them?" Arturia watched Merlin with her usual cold mask falling back into place.

"Because they are damn useful in a battle for your life." Merlin sighed and rubbed his face. "The killing curse, the cruciatus curse and the imperius curse. One kills, one tortures with the greatest pain imaginable and the third forces the victim to do whatever the user wants. They were used in fighting when dark wizards started cropping up and they don't stop at using a spell just because it's a bad curse to use."

"What is this…ministry of magic?" asked Arturia.

"The government of the past was much different than the ones we have now. It would take too long to explain, therefore I will only say that it was once what governed the wizard people, what kept them safe and what kept things from being seen by normal people." Merlin looked to his pupil and watched her as she processed this. "Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Yes, master," she said and stood.

Merlin nodded. "Off you go then. Go get changed so you won't trip anymore."

Arturia nodded and then left. Merlin watched her go and frowned. Why had Emiya come back with burns typical of a person who had been hit with the cruciatus curse a couple of times? His gut told him that it was the same witch who had given Arturia the gender bending potion. To what purpose did this witch want with Arturia being a man and what had Emiya uncovered that caused him to deserve her ire?

Only one person came to his mind that he could think of that would possibly want some form of revenge on Arturia. Morgan.


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

_**A/N: aaaaaaaaand the birth of dear true Emiya shows up. :3**_

_**Chapter Twenty-Two**_

"It was a woman?"

"Yes, my queen," said Emiya; holding his head down to the ground. "I followed after her when I realized something was amiss. She had a phial of your… seed," he said, his ears beginning to turn pink.

Arturia gazed at her servant with an assessing glare. A witch had come into her room while she was incapacitated by whatever spell-work she had used, made Arturia a man, just to get Arturia's semen? Arturia squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. The very memory of what she experienced while she was forced asleep made her feel sick and disgusting.

Merlin watched Arturia carefully. "You had no choice in the matter, Arturia, so you shouldn't feel terrible about it. Men lose that much when they dream certain things, you weren't any different."

"But I am different, Merlin!" she snapped. She shuddered and hugged herself. "I'm a woman. I was born a woman and will die a woman. That I experienced a form of s-sex as a man feels disgusting to me." She normally wouldn't have been so bothered if it had not been for the very experience that made her both angry and humiliated.

Merlin patted Arturia's shoulder gently as he watched his pupil. She really had gone through something she truly despised. He hoped it wouldn't ruin her enjoyment of the sex-act when it came time for her to be married, for he already knew that several of the upper class women hated marriage already and hated sex with their husbands, for they had arranged marriages to people they did not like.

Arturia looked at Emiya and leaned forward, touching his hair. "Your hair has gone white, Emiya. Why is this?"

Merlin eyed Emiya as he looked down once more. "It may have been the trauma of the cruciatus curse. It does terrible things to the body. Or it could have been a severe drain on his magic that caused it. His imaging takes a bit from his life force to produce his weapons or whatever when he uses his imaging."

Emiya looked up at Merlin, raising an eyebrow. Arturia frowned deeply. "How much does it take and does it go back?"

"It goes back when the weapon disappears. He is simply doing an equivalent trade as it were by using part of his life energy to produce weapons. His… reality marble… takes a lot more than just the tiny bit it takes for the individual weapons, but he doesn't control that very well," said Merlin as he scratched his chin in thought.

Arturia nodded. "How dangerous is it for him to continue?"

"I don't think it'll be too dangerous, so long as he knows his own limits. After all, the body starts stopping long before the will does, so his body would start shutting itself down and force him to stop before he killed himself doing imaging." Merlin leaned back in his chair and looked to Emiya. "Do remember that, Emiya. We don't want you to die because of stupidity, all right?"

Emiya rolled his eyes and sneered at Merlin. Arturia seemed to miss it, though Merlin glared at Emiya. Arturia leaned back in her chair as Emiya moved forward and rubbed her legs. "My queen should relax a little. Please rest a little," he said softly.

Merlin watched Emiya and frowned deeply. The man he had become was very strange and acted far too smugly toward other men for his position. Arturia didn't seem to care, either. She simply let him, because, it seemed, she was the only one who actually gave him orders. It was as though she was keeping a very particular dog or wolf as a pet and only saw her as the alpha that he should pay attention to.

Arturia put her foot on Emiya's shoulder and shoved him back with her boot. "Not now, Emiya," she said before standing up and walking past Emiya. Emiya looked at her over his shoulder as she stopped. "Be more careful with your gift, Emiya. I do not wish to lose you to an early grave," she said softly.

Emiya blinked at her in surprise. She, however, simply continued walking. Merlin smiled faintly at his pupil as she walked up the stairs. "Arturia doesn't show it, but she does care about people. Not many, but she does care about the few she holds dear to her. I think she cares for you as well, Emiya."

Emiya looked to Merlin and, for the first time since he was younger, smiled at him. His face broke into the most boyish smile he had seen since the boy was a boy. Merlin chuckled. "You still have a rather babyish face for a man, Emiya." Emiya immediately stopped smiling and looked away. "Don't take it as a negative comment. Not many can keep such a youthful look to them when they grow older. You, Emiya Shirou, have a very handsome face, albeit, a very odd one."

Emiya looked at Merlin carefully and stood. "I have always been told my face is handsome but odd, master Merlin."

"I'm sure," said Merlin, watching Emiya carefully once more, "I'm also sure you have spent a good part of your life hating your face as well."

Emiya was now gazing at Merlin with an assessing gaze. Merlin smiled faintly. "I've heard tales of children who are born of mixed parentage from history and know that it still continues to this day in Japan. That is where you are from, correct?"

Emiya turned and walked away without a word. Merlin stood suddenly and hit his staff on the ground. "Don't walk away, Emiya. Remember, you are a servant here, therefore you must have permission to leave." When Emiya stopped, Merlin relaxed slightly and smiled faintly at Emiya once more. "Emiya, please know that whatever troubles were in your past that you have people around here who care for you."

Emiya looked over his shoulder slightly toward Merlin and Merlin backed away slightly at the chilly glare he found there, the young man's eyes turning gray as he glared at him. "You have no idea what is in my past, master Merlin. Do not act as though you can absolve all my sins with a kind smile and a good gesture." Then, he walked off once more.

Merlin sighed and sat down. Ever since he had come back, Emiya had become almost a shell of himself; self-loathing and cold settling on his shoulders like a new fallen snow drift. He hoped that serving Arturia would help this problem of his in time, for the man only obeyed her and her alone.

* * *

Emiya skirted along the edge of the main building, following tracks that he had found in the snow. As he walked along the ground, he stopped when he heard some people talking and hid. Arturia had given him a new set of orders, though they were similar to the set he'd been given previously while training. He was to keep his ears and eyes open for traitors to her crown and give her what information he had found. So far, he had found nothing. Not since Agravaine had attacked him had he found anything of interest.

"The queen is getting too haughty. She forgets that the people can still bring her down should she fuck up the rights of the people. The people willed it that her own father die and so he did and we can make her life miserable as well," said one voice, a man's.

"I don't know, she seems as though she is doing the best she can," said a woman's voice. "Oh, please do stop whimpering, Kevin…"

"Mummy, I'm hungry," said a young boy's voice.

Emiya felt sick suddenly. If he were to tell Arturia about what they said, he might betray them to a death that was worse than anything they could ever receive at the hands of the headsman. It was a family talking to each other!

"Honey, please stop. Right now, I can't make you anything, we're not at home yet," said the woman. Then, she continued, "We can't speak of things like these around the castle."

"No, we can't because there's a spy that gathers information for her," said the man with disgust. "I'll tell you, love, my boys are coming up with a plan to over throw her. Soon, it'll be the people in charge, not her. We're planning our own attack on her."

"Honey! Don't you dare! I'll not have a husband who would join such things!" cried the woman as the sound of her slapping him resounded through the area.

"Fine. Be a drone. I'm going on. I can't take this woman who thinks she can rule over us like a king should. She's not even chosen a husband yet!" growled the husband.

Emiya moved away and started back for the kitchen entrance. There was going to be an attack on his queen. The wife did not want a part of it and the child would surly be safe, for children were innocent after all. Right?

He wasn't innocent. He had murdered. He had lied. He had betrayed. He had spied several times. He was supposed to be his queen's assassin, trained as such to perfection so he would do what she wanted. He had once thought that if he did all she asked of him, that she was the only thing that mattered. What of it now?

He jogged up the stairwell to the upper floor and ran to his queen's room. When he walked in, he searched around for her and found her in her study, looking over documents. Emiya approached and knelt down. "My queen. I bring you information."

Arturia looked up and frowned. "What news do you bring me, Emiya?"

Emiya told her of the conversation and became a little nervous when she remained cold, though he had become a little accustomed to her lack of emotion. She leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers in thought.

"Emiya… I have a task for you. I can not perform it for I can't be seen doing it. However, you can, for you are trained in such things."

Emiya felt a cold chill run through him. This was it, the very thing he was trained for. Murder.

"I… can not, my queen. I've… done too much already," he said softly and looked down.

"You bound yourself to me as my servant to do such tasks for me, Emiya, back when I found you. You have stayed by my side these several years past and now you refuse me?"

Emiya was afraid to look up. He knew that if he did, he would see Arturia's cold eyes trained on him. "I must."

"What has caused your sudden change in attitude, Emiya?"

Emiya looked up finally and saw Arturia leaning back in her chair still, watching him with those gold eyes of hers. He looked away. "The witch made a point to me when I attacked her. I have done many things that would anger God. I have murdered. I have stolen. I have lied. I have spied. I have done many many things that are wrong."

"And you are disgusted with yourself?"

Emiya nodded as he looked down. Arturia stood and walked over to Emiya. "Emiya… you are… an unusual man. You have grown up with a far more different life than most people will ever experience." She touched his white hair and ruffled it slightly before gripping it tightly and forcing him to look up at her. He gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut as she pulled his head back to her. "I brought you up and I will take you down, Emiya. Don't make me regret taking you in. I don't take betrayal lightly."

Emiya felt a strange feeling as he felt the breath from her mouth so near his cheek and ear. Despite the pain he felt in his head from her fist in his hair, he felt warmth from her breath fanning over him. He opened his eyes and looked over to her, his hazel eyes warm and rich to her harsh gold. His heart pounded in his chest as he gazed at her. This was why he served her. The feeling of her so close, that she alone was the person who made his heart race; she was the only one he would serve until he died.

He gazed at her through his lashes and turned slightly, licking his lips unconsciously and swallowing, his Adam's apple bobbing faintly under the stretched skin of his neck. Arturia watched it and felt a strange hunger burn within her as she watched. Something about the way he gritted his teeth but his eyes betrayed a fire within them that made her middle melt. She moved closer toward him and watched his tongue move across his lips. He really was a handsome man, though very foolish in defying her. He continued to watch her as she moved closer to him, panting softly against his now heated skin.

Emiya's mind was blank. He felt as though everything hinged on him staying silent. If he should speak, he would break the moment entirely and not see anything of it ever again. His heart pounded hard in his ribcage, threatening to break out of it. As she watched him lick his lips again, he felt a strange surge of pride that she continued to watch his mouth so closely. It made him remember just why he served this woman, for she filled his thoughts daily.

Arturia's mouth brushed against Emiya's. He felt her tongue move out against his and felt her kiss him even harder as she pulled his hair harder to move his head back even more. An animalistic growl escaped her as she fair devoured him, her mouth pushing hard against his. His mind reeled as she pushed harder and harder against his mouth, as though she couldn't get far enough into his mouth to be satisfied.

A knock at the door shocked them both. She moved back sharply and put a quivering hand to her mouth as she stared intently at Emiya. Emiya's hair was messy from her fist in it and his face was flushed, though he had not moved an inch from where he had been when he knelt down in front of her before. "A… apologies, Emiya. I… lost myself. It won't happen again."

Emiya watched her through his lashes as someone knocked on the main chamber door once more. Arturia pushed herself to her feet and walked out of the study, leaving Emiya. He still had not received all her orders.

When she came back, he had corrected his hair and looked down at his knees. She blushed faintly and walked over to her chair, sitting behind the desk. "Emiya… I apologize for my crude behavior. I do not wish you to misunderstand, for I do not love you and should not have kissed you."

The emptiness inside Emiya made him feel cold once more. "Yes, my queen," he said softly. "It is fine, my queen, for I will serve my queen regardless of how she uses me."

"So you agree to my terms once more? To be my eyes and ears and even my hand?" she asked.

"Yes, queen Arturia," he said.

"Good." She watched Emiya for a moment and nodded when he continued to look down. "Search out this man and the others he conspires with. Then.. kill him and his compatriots. I will not stand for traitors in my kingdom. If he conspires outside of Camelot, follow him until you find all the men he conspires with and kill them as well. If their wives and daughters and sons get in the way, kill them as well, but only should they be perceived as a problem as well."

Emiya nodded and stood. "Is that all my queen?"

Arturia watched him for a moment more, noting the curve of his well built chest underneath the black leather she had tailored for him. Once more, her body hungered to touch it. Why did it react so? It was the same as when she gazed upon Cuchulainn. When she gazed upon him, all she could think of was seeing him undressed. Now, Emiya was being shoved into the same fantasy and she hardly knew why. He was a servant and one she raised up herself like a pet. "You are dismissed then, Emiya."

Emiya nodded and looked at her finally, smiling faintly and then turned on his heel and walked out. Once more, his hazel eyes seemed to burn as he gazed at her and once more, her middle seemed to melt. He disappeared out her door and she was left leaning over her desk and putting her hot face against the cool table she sat at. What was happening to her? Had she been deprived so that she was becoming desperate for the attentions of a man that she would assault her own servant for it?


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

_**A/N: and yet Emiya proved once more that he really is Arturia's bitch. Admit it, that's what you've been thinking. XD Arturia's more GAR than Emiya is in this case. :: laughs::**_

_**Chapter Twenty-Three**_

Arturia sat in her study, looking out at the opposite wall. Ever since Emiya had left to do as she bid, she thought of little but that kiss she shared with him. She must be desperate to fairly maul her own servant to get what she wanted. She closed her eyes and touched the earring that she took from Cuchulainn's ear. She still wore it, even after a few years of not having seen him. She was certain the man had forgotten all about it, but she could not forget, for the very feeling of his kiss sent fire through her veins.

She stood up and walked over to the window and looked out at the little patches of brown she saw in the snow. Despite her best efforts to find ways of ridding her country of this foul sickness in the land and weather, she knew of nothing that could get rid of it for her people. It pained her to know that there was something she couldn't control.

The last thing she could do was have Ireland become a part of her country, merge the two and make it so that Ireland didn't raise such high tariffs of the goods they sent to Briton. Scotland didn't have any actual kings or even princes; therefore she couldn't go there and find a mate. They had chiefs, yes, but the land was overridden by wizards mainly and, from what Merlin said, there was no royalty in wizard kind.

That only left her Wales and Wales was in a similar condition to Briton, for it was only to the west, and Ireland. The king of Ireland was already married and far too old for her. However, were the king of Ireland and his entire family die out, they would have to find someone to become the new king of Ireland and that would either be the next of kin, or….

Arturia smiled faintly to herself as an idea formed in her mind. She would have to find ways of executing it without fail; train Emiya more maybe or have him do more missions such as the one he was on now. For certain, she would have to quell the budding rebellion on her hands until she could get her people the better supply trade. It was a very large gambit on her part, but she felt it might work.

In a better mood, she went back to her paperwork and started dealing with the troubles at hand.

* * *

Emiya watched and listened to the men inside the building. For certain, these men were the ones he had heard. He had managed to find the home of the man he had heard talking about attacking his queen and listened in at the house to make sure. He followed the man out of his home and to the cellar of an inn where he heard him speak to another fellow about the Earl of Hemrill getting uneasy with Arturia on the throne.

Finally, Emiya had followed the man to a bar where he stayed back and listened as well as he could to the men talking about the Baron of Marwick coming down to bring his forces to help storm the castle. They were to meet in Leoness and gather everything they had to go against Arturia that they had.

Emiya frowned. He was to execute these men, but what of the forces? He would have to inform Arturia before he could continue on. He wrote a note and sealed it with the ring Arturia had made for him. It was a seal ring with two curved blades crossing each other, his blades Kansho and Bakuya. He was the only one who held it, for he was the only one who wielded them. He pulled his hood up and found a boy, giving him a pouch of money. "Take this to the castle and tell the guard that the letter is for the queen. Please. Hurry."

The boy blinked up at Emiya and then looked at the gold before looking back up at Emiya and grinning. "All right, sir!" Then, he ran off toward the castle.

Then, Emiya followed after the men who were gathering in the house of the first man. He seemed to be a merchant trader and a wealthy one at that. If he was so wealthy, why was he so disturbed by the queen?

Emiya walked on and found the house. A strange emptiness began to overtake him, for the task ahead might take the lives of a woman and child should they get in the way. As the men walked into the house, he moved silently over to the side and looked in through the window. The men greeted the first man with handshaking and patting of their backs. The wife was shooing the little boy from the room quickly, scurrying to the fresher and stove.

He listened silently as they spoke, closing his eyes and hoping that the woman would stay away from him as he worked.

"The queen's been quiet lately, friend. I don't think it's such a good idea to be doing this," said the second man to the first.

The first grunted and made a slurping sound. He must have taken a drink of ale or something. "She's quiet which means she doesn't suspect a thing."

"I wish you men wouldn't do this. It's dangerous what you're doing and it'll leave us alone without money if you get yourselves killed," said another woman. One of the men had brought his wife! "I'm going over to help prepare dinner with Marjory."

"If she's quiet, she could be sending out that spy of hers to keep tabs on us," said a third man.

"You lot are being paranoid. If she were spying on us, we'd have seen that little bitch coming in and starting a fight with that big black bloody sword of her," said the first man.

"I don't think we'd have seen her at all. She's so short; she'd have been squashed underfoot by one of us!" The men laughed at the fourth voice joining in. Emiya growled faintly and slicked his hair back to get it out of his eyes.

"I say we tie her down in front of the public and have her tormented like she did those men that day before that king Gilgamesh attacked. She'd do the same to us," said the second man.

"Such brutality. It's frightening to know that is what sits still on Briton's throne. I remember king Uther ruling over us all like a tyrant. His daughter's the very same," said the first man. "We have to bring her down before she ruins us all."

"AYE!" they cried as one.

The door burst open and each man barely had any time to reach for their swords. Emiya formed the blades in his hands and swung at one and swung at another so fast that it was as though he weren't human. He cut off the head of one and stabbed the other through the chest. They never had a chance to lay a hand on him, though they tried. He simply continued hacking each man until they stopped moving.

Emiya panted as he surveyed the carnage at his feet. The women screamed and a boy yelled for his father. Others were coming to see what had happened. He made shushing noises at the women to calm them down and they threw things at him. Men came in with wooden pitchforks and knives to combat him. He felt a stab in his leg and saw the boy with a knife in his hands and digging the blade further into his thigh. He grabbed the kid by the hair and threw him, threw a blade at one woman and hit her in the throat. He caught a man with a pitchfork with the other as he formed another Kansho and gutted him. The boy yelled and ran at him again and he sliced at his head.

It all seemed to happen so fast that Emiya didn't even register it all. His eyes were empty, he simply killed and kept killing until no one was attacking him any longer. He slit the throat of the other woman to shut her up and gutted another man trying to hit him. More men came to see what had happened and Emiya continued cutting and hitting until they too stopped. When he didn't have anymore coming at him, he walked out of the house and ran away until he could get away without anymore coming at him.

* * *

Arturia looked at the note in her hands. Emiya had sent a note along to her before he had gone off to finish off the traitors in the immediate vicinity. This army of the Baron of Marwick was going to be a challenge. If she sent Emiya to deal with it, he might not come back ever again. If she went herself, she might upset all around her into rebelling, for she was supposed to be working with these men, not killing them all.

It would be better if she went with her own army, she decided, for with her own army, she could make the point clear. She was not a queen to be trifled with like a small maid. She was queen and she would kill those who did not do as she asked of them. She asked only for loyalty and patience and this was what she got in return. The nerve of men sometimes made her want them all dead. Only problem was that she rather liked the way some men made her feel.

With that, she went to the war chamber and sent out summons for Gawain, Bedivere, Gaheris and Agravaine. They four would help her decide how to deal with this problem.

* * *

Emiya sat on the snow covered ground and looked at himself. Really, he didn't see anything. He simply stared because it was something to stare at. His mind was blank as was his heart. Everything had grown empty when he killed those villagers and the women and the child. They attacked him, screamed and fought all and he could do nothing but continue to fight until they were all dealt with.

He slid until he was flat on his back and staring up at the ceiling of the stables he had gone to. Next to him was Arturia's horse, the black mare that gently nuzzled her hay before looking to him gave him a strange sort of peace as he watched her.

After a moment of rest, he got to his feet and walked toward the castle. He could still hear people screaming off in the distance as they discovered the mess of body parts and people in that one home. He could still see the faces of the people he had slaughtered in the name of his queen; feel the warm blood as it splattered against his face and hands. He could feel it all still on him, making his hands sticky and strange feeling.

As he made his way, he saw the light in Arturia's room still on. He wondered what she might be doing then, what sort of plan she was going to muster to go against the army of Marwick. He wondered if she would use him again so soon after his first true murders as an assassin, make him kill more people so soon after he had splattered himself with villager blood.

* * *

"Unbelievable! I can't believe that Marwick would do this!" cried Gaheris. "I've known him for years! He's a good fellow!"

"I can, the bloke's had his eye on the throne since Uther was king as I recall," said Gawain, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Should we fight them all as an example? I should think that this sort of thing should be left to someone who isn't so obvious," said Bedivere.

Arturia listened to her knights talking. Agravaine stayed silent as he watched her. Bedivere did similar, wondering what was going through Arturia's mind right then.

She stood up and put up her hands. "We will take a small army to Leoness. Should Marwick attack, we will show no mercy."

"What of Leoness, Arturia!" cried Bedivere, shooting to his feet. "If we attack, Leoness will be the first casualty of it all and it would have been for nothing!"

Arturia snapped her gaze to Bedivere. "I know this, Bedivere, but it is the only thing that can be done. We can not allow him and his troops to come into Camelot."

"Arturia's right, we can't allow them to go much further than Leoness. As we speak, they could be already there right now, readying to come across to Camelot in the morning. We need to take action now while it's still fresh in our heads," said Gawain.

Bedivere looked to Gawain and blinked. "Gawain, are you being serious."

"Very."

"That's the first time I've ever seen you be serious!" said Bedivere, grinning faintly.

Gawain's eyes widened and blushed faintly. He'd been set up by Bedivere and he'd fallen right into the verbal trap. The others laughed and sat down in their seats. "I'll get you next time, Bedivere," said Gawain, grinning.

Bedivere chuckled and leaned back in his seat. "Any time, Gawain."

Arturia rolled her eyes and stood. "We'll leave first thing in the morning. The first thing we all need to do is sleep. I also must check on something before anything else is done."

"You mean that lapdog of yours? That pet?" said Agravaine. "I know you sent him out before. Heard a great deal of commotion on the other side of the village, too." He eyed Arturia suspiciously over his hands as he steepled his fingers in thought. "Did you send him out on one of your little… jobs?"

"And if I did?" Arturia eyed Agravaine suspiciously.

Agravaine growled and stood up. "You are queen, but you are not above the law!"

"Who said I was doing something above the law. I was speaking hypothetically. If you were actually asking a question, you should specify more clearly next time." With that, Arturia turned and left the room.

"Damn it! That damn woman! How can she send that thing out to kill people on a whim!?" growled Agravaine as he leaned back in his chair.

"Because it rids us of one problem so far," said Bedivere. "She doesn't make her moves unless she can plot it out at least ten moves ahead. I would hate to have to go against her."

"You said it, she creeps me out," said Gaheris.

While they talked, Arturia made her way to her chambers. When she opened her main door, she found Emiya curled up on the floor with his arms over his head, covered in blood. She walked over to him and kneeled down. "Emiya?"

Emiya didn't say anything; he simply kept staring at the wall in front of him as he curled up more to move away from her. Arturia frowned and walked out. She found one of her handmaidens and had her draw a bath for Emiya and help wash him. Then, she went into her bedroom and undressed before going into her bed. It had been a very long day.


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

_**A/N: so Emiya isn't really a bitch anymore. XD He's gotten more GAR since being a kid. Even Alexiel conceded that Emiya was far cooler now since he was a carnage makin' machine.**_

_**Anyway, I think a cat has adopted us at the new house. Still need to get my crap moved out. w **_

_**Chapter Twenty-Four**_

"A storm's a brewin' in Briton, guarantee it."

Cuchulainn lifted himself up and looked to his comrade, an older, grizzled warrior missing an eye. "What's that, you say? Why is that?" said Cuchulainn; moving himself into a sitting position.

The old warrior looked to him and grinned faintly. "I feel it. Saw a rider heading out yesterday and heard that there is a small rebellion brewin' in Briton against Queen Arturia. Some of her nobles in the north are trying to gather forces into one of the nearby towns and sending one force from each town surrounding Camelot to invade."

Cuchulainn frowned. If he knew the little queen as well as he did, he was certain she was already quick on her own plot to keep the rebellion against her down and stem an invasion into her little city. The nobles be damned, she wasn't the sort not to think further ahead than two paces. The little woman was calculating and he was certain that she was bound to start finding quick ends to the problem.

"How long has this been brewing? Why?" asked Cuchulainn.

The older man scratched his cheek a moment and grunted. "Not a clue. Several months at least. They've been gathering since two months ago, from what I heard."

Again, Cuchulainn's mind was a whir of activity. Surely the queen knew of it! Several months would be enough time for her to have started mounting her own attack against the rebels! Something inside Cuchulainn made him uneasy.

"As I said… a storm's a brewin' in Briton. I guarantee it," said the older man before he picked up his sword and went off to practice.

* * *

Leoness was a small town. Her graceful landscape had once been busy streets and houses and buildings long long ago, but now her beauty was that of snow and skeletal buildings on the outskirts of the town. In the castle, a Baron's daughter ruled over the town in her father's stead. She had heard tales of her town's once very strange, but very liberating, past when she was a child, but all she could see before her was that of the landscape she knew; cold, white, snow covering everything, patches of brown showing through where the land was too warm to freeze and evergreen trees growing every which direction, but hardly any fruit trees or other sorts of plants, for the weather was far too cold for it.

Gwenivere looked out at the landscape and sighed. The people milled around as they usually did, however, she had begun to notice large groups coming in, all coming with the Baron Marwick. She had allowed his men to come in because he swore he was going to not bring any trouble to Leoness. More and more men came in, all dressed in common clothing, though she saw bits of armor underneath it all. He was up to something and she knew it.

She curled a bit of curly brown hair around her finger in thought as she gazed at the people with gentle blue eyes. She wasn't a tall woman; she was very small and had a rounded face that held rosy cheeks and rosy lips on her alabaster skin. Yet, for all her fairness, she had trouble finding one of the nobles to marry, for they all repulsed her. They refused to allow her to watch over her gentle Leoness, all wanted it for their own. She refused to allow any man to take Leoness without a good heart to fuel it.

Gwenivere shot to her feet when she heard the alarm bell sound. She pulled her cloak on and ran down to the main hall where her father's advisors all clambered over to her.

"Gwenivere! Gwenivere! There's a black army headed this way!" cried one.

"It's Camelot's army! It's the army of the queen! She's coming to Leoness with full banners raised!" cried a second.

"Camelot!? What is Camelot coming to Leoness in such a fashion for!?" Gwenivere looked ready to spit nails, she was so infuriated. "No! I have an idea as to what is happening! Damn that Marwick! I hope he rots in hell for an eternity for putting my home in danger and the people of Leoness in danger! Get all the people into the castle! NOW!"

The advisors hurried off to do as she bid as she went to head of her soldiers and relayed instructions to him. Leoness' soldiers started scrambling to battle readiness as Gwenivere looked out at the black line headed toward Leoness. Marwick had pretty well sentenced them to death, she was certain of it, but for all she was, she was not going to let her home fall to anyone!

* * *

The Baron of Marwick ate heartily of his chicken, which lay in pieces on his plate. The cook he carried with him at all times was an excellent cook and did things with spices that hardly anyone did that he had ever witnessed. The man had come from the Americas, North America as far as he knew. He had a strange accent as well, though he spoke English. He tended to run his words together and almost speak unintelligibly when he was angry at the kitchen girls at Marwick manor. Marwick seemed to recall the man said he was from Louisianna or some strange place like that.

"Don' jus' slurp it up, y'lordship. You gotta eat it uup lahk you woul' a woman, hear?" said the cook. He grinned and winked at Marwick as he stared at him oddly. "Slurp 'er up while takin' in the better pleasures o'the meal sloooowly," he said. "Ah don' cook meals jus' so you kin go through I' like a cat does a fresh kill."

Once more, Marwick was baffled by the Americans. How anyone understood one another completely baffled him. The cook he had picked up while traveling from Camelot, coming back from the coronation celebrations. The man had said he was wandering around trying to find work; that he had traveled from "Louisianna" in search of better work than what he was getting in his home town. "Don' lahk the people back home," he said, "They don' appreciate goo' cookin' lahk mah mama us'd to make. Mama made the bes' meals an'where 'round Lou'sianna, hear? She make fiiiine meals for all the family."

And, indeed, his cook made wonderful meals all the time. They had so much spice in them that it made Marwick's tongue fairly dance inside his mouth!

However, the warning bell ruined Marwick's appetite immediately. He stood up suddenly and caused Cook to suddenly jump back in surprise and knock over the rest of the chicken. "Mah chicken! No!" he cried and attempted to gather it up.

Marwick didn't care about the delicious chicken anymore. He was hurrying to the window to see what was happening. Leoness' soldiers were out gathering villagers and filing them into the castle as quickly as possible. That could only mean one thing. Someone was invading Leoness!

"Shit!" Marwick grabbed his armor and started hauling it on as fast as possible while he shouted orders at his captains. "Get the soldiers out of hiding, get them out to the border fence and get ready to fight! And for God's sake, get me a horse!" he cried.

Marwick's captains ran off as fast as possible to follow his orders and left him steaming as he stuffed the last of the chicken he could take before battle. He savored the spices and grunted in irritation. This would either be his last meal or be the end of his meal today for he would be fighting against a tyrant of a queen and her massive, well trained, forces. "No little piddly queen what hails herself as a king of a people is going to get the better of me, that's for damn certain!" he snarled.

* * *

Arturia rode beside Gawain and Bedivere, watching both men stare determinedly at the town of Leoness. She had never wanted to have problems with Leoness. She, in fact, liked the Baron that she had come to associate with Leoness, for he was a good Baron and his people were loyal to Camelot. However, because Marwick chose to gather his troops there for an assault on the capital, Leoness might well fall to Camelot as well as Marwick. They housed a traitor and thus were traitors themselves.

"Your orders, my queen?" asked Bedivere, not looking at her.

"Wait to see if Marwick comes out of Leoness. If he does, then Leoness will be spared for the most part. If he doesn't…. no mercy."

Bedivere looked to his queen in surprise and frowned as he looked to the gates of Leoness. His queen was cold hearted, but he knew, just knew, that she probably felt terrible for this terrible decision. They would not stand a chance should Camelot be invaded and so she had to take the battle to them. She had wanted to surprise them as they were going to do to her, but Gaheris and Bedivere both reminded her that Leoness was to be a casualty in this and they only wanted Marwick, not Leoness.

Arturia didn't show any sign of relief when men of Marwick came out to the gate and formed a battle line in front of the gates. On a horse, out came the Baron of Marwick. He was a big, broad-shouldered man with short cropped black hair and a black mustache upon his lip. He certainly out weighed Arturia, even with her armor on.

"Well, looks like we don't have to flush 'em out after all, cousin," said Gawain, grinning.

Arturia nodded. "Let's go." She rode out on her horse with Bedivere and Gawain behind her as they went to meet with Marwick and his captains. The men behind Marwick were also very big and somewhat red-faced from the chill.

Marwick and his men met Arturia, Bedivere and Gawain in the middle of the two sides, Marwick glaring imperiously down at Arturia over his hooked nose and his two captains sneering at Bedivere and Gawain.

"Marwick… I will spare you and all of your men if you simply go home and do not engage in battle with me," said Arturia.

"Like hell we'll do that, you stupid bitch of a queen!" cried the first captain.

Marwick held up a hand to him, growling. Arturia's face remained that of a frozen mask, though Bedivere and Gawain both looked ready to kill. "I'll not join you even if you stripped down and danced in front of me, little witch. You are no more a queen than I am the Prince of Wales. You took the sword from the stone, fine, but you had help from that wizard of yours."

"She pulled it out on her own, just ask anyone who saw! Several tried it and failed AFTER she put the sword back into the rock!" growled Bedivere, now losing his temper.

Arturia didn't make a motion to silence her knight. Marwick found that odd, since he was her subordinate and he was speaking out of turn. "It matters not! The truth is, she still had that ruddy Merlin by her side when that was happening, didn't she?!"

"What about Gilgamesh? What about turning back that gold king from Babylon and rallying all of us, Briton, Wales, Ireland and even Scotland to battle alongside her?" growled Gawain, glaring at Marwick. "You sent men along, didn't you? You sent your best archers along and she was the one, **SHE**, who got us all to join 'er!"

"Only because if we didn't go or send people to join, we would have lost Briton and all the other countries to that ghastly king!" said the second captain. "She's no more a miracle worker than I'm Marwick hisself!"

"Exactly!" said the first captain.

Arturia continued to watch them all with that ever present chilly stare. Marwick wondered why the woman stayed so quiet all that time as she simply watched him and his men talk. "No woman can rule like a king. She can't even get the Irish and Scots to lower the tariffs on food," said Marwick, "She can't get a man to marry her and she never ages!"

"And if I did age, if I did grow old before your eyes to that of my natural age, would you follow me as you would a king?" asked Arturia, finally.

Marwick spat at her. "I'd rather rot."

"Very well." Arturia started to turn her horse around as Marwick watched her in surprise. She stopped and looked to him coldly. "Should you go into Leoness, I will raze everything until I kill each and every person that houses a Marwick man." Then, she galloped to her soldiers with Bedivere and Gawain behind her.

"That woman is bizarre," said the first captain.

"Creepy. Did you see those eyes? Not a bit of emotion! It's like she's made of ice!" said the second captain.

"Wouldn't want to stick my cock in that one, that's for sure! She'd probably snap it off from the chill alone!" said the first.

Marwick turned his horse and went toward his soldiers. "No one would bed that woman, because she's a creature that feeds on death," he said, "She has no heart and no Christian woman would be so merciless. If we should fall here, make sure someone gets out to tell the world that Arturia Pendragon is a devil worshipper!"

Marwick turned and looked to the line of black clad men on horses and on foot. Each one was as menacing as the devil himself and in the middle was Arturia in her black armor and battle-dress. Just like a woman to wear a dress into battle rather than trousers! He snorted and looked to his captains. He nodded and he pulled his sword out. "CHARGE!!" he cried.

Arturia looked to the men advancing on her position. Bedivere looked to his queen and nodded as did Gawain. The split from her and rode out along the line of soldiers, their swords raised high over their heads. Arturia pulled Excalibur from its scabbard and put her visor down. "It is time, men." Then, she rode down on her horse as the men on either side of her followed down in succession.

* * *

Gwenivere watched in horror as the black clad army of Camelot ran at the line of Marwick soldiers. Marwick's soldiers were running up at them, but it wasn't nearly as awesome as Camelot's army. Had the Queen been a King, she would like to have married him, for such ability to raise an army with sheer will alone was something wonderful to behold. She had to be a very strong woman to be able to pull such men to her side to fight for her. And that she fought beside them rather than hanging back showed how she was a warrior before a queen!

"My lady! The people are inside the walls of the castle now. Should we go out and help Marwick?" said one of Gwenivere's captains.

"No. Marwick started this battle, he can well end it himself," said Gwenivere. "Just make certain that Leoness is safe from harm, do you understand?"

Her captain nodded and ran of to do as she bid. Gwenivere looked back out the window and watched the sides clash, blood spilling and swords clashing. It was a gruesome sight; one that Gwenivere had trouble stomaching. With that, she moved away so she could calm her stomach down.

* * *

Chaos reigned over the battle field. Men hacked at one another, men brutalized each other. It was total carnage as the forces of Marwick clashed against the forces of Camelot. Bedivere took more than his fare share of heads with his axe as Gawain spilled his share of blood. The only one who was missing was Arturia, who had been knocked off her horse when Marwick struck her with his sword.

"Find the queen! Keep her safe! But above all, make sure Marwick's forces don't retreat to Leoness!" called Bedivere.

Meanwhile, Marwick was locked in a strange battle against the little queen. Her dragon helm on, she might as well have said she were a dragon, for she looked like on in human shape! Marwick, however, was five times Arturia's size and could easily overtake the woman with little effort should she show any small weakness or grow tired.

He also found she was far stronger than any normal girl her size, further fueling his believe that she took the power of the devil into her to fuel her fighting abilities so she would seem invincible.

She ran at him and he caught her on the shoulder. She came at him from the side and he blocked her sword with a swipe. She really wasn't of a fighter! How had this woman fought the great Gilgamesh? She moved too slowly and that dress of hers tripped her over and over again. How had this woman managed to turn back Gilgamesh when she herself was little better than any normal princess just given a sword and sent off to fight with it. She swung it in wide angles and left much of herself open.

"Give it up, bitch! You can't win! Look at you! You're already out of breath!" cried Marwick.

Arturia moved back and leaned over her sword and collapsed onto her knees. "You… are right… I am… out of breath.. Marwick," she said as she panted heavily from the weight of her sword.

Marwick snorted. "Make me your king and I'll spare you," he said,smirking. "Make me your husband and I'll run Camelot for you so all you have to do is lay in bed and let me bed you and bare heirs, though I doubt that little body of yours would do much for heirs. I'd probably crush you in bed should I take your maidenhead!"

Arturia's face cringed and looked away, panting heavily still. Marwick smirked. He was getting to her! He looked around and saw his men turning with Camelot's men to see what was going on. Bedivere and Gawain rode over and stopped to see what was happening. He grinned triumphantly. He was going to win this battle and it was because this stupid little queen couldn't even fight properly!

"You would crush me, but I would not die," said Arturia as she looked down at the ground, closing her eyes. "My maidenhead is intact and would be what would kill me should such a large man such as yourself take it."

Marwick snorted again and put his sword away. "This is a ridiculous fight. Become my bride, submit to my will, and I'll make the attack on Camelot stop. Don't and Camelot will be invaded by other forces besides my own! Your own men are turning against you! See how they turn to see their little bitch queen kneel before a man?"

"My cousin is a better woman to you any day!" snarled Gawain. "A better **MAN** to you as well!"

"Silence, idiot!" snarled Marwick. "Unless you want that bright head of yours taken by my men as well as your little bitch!"

Bedivere put a hand on Gawain's shoulder and pulled him away, nodding. Gawain grumbled angrily, but he remained silent. Marwick chuckled and put his hands on his hips. "It seems I've won, little whore. I knew you wouldn't be able to do anything to me!" He leaned down and grabbed her face in his hand, sneering down his hooked nose at her. "And your devil worship will die here as well, for I'll convert you myself as I take your maidenhead and then take you as many times as I can before I thrust you into your own dungeons where you'll stay until you birth an heir and then die."

Marwick's head fell from his body in a gush of blood. It rolled to a stop at his captains' feet, staring up at them with glassy eyes. Arturia, drenched from the shower of Marwick's blood, stood up with her sword and wiped it off on her cloak before kicking the body as it jerked on the ground. The men moved back in horror as she reached down and stuck her foot on his stomach and ripped off the man's penis and held it up. "All who say that only a person with this in their trousers can rule needs to learn that just because you have this doesn't mean you are invincible. It only means you give women pleasure in bed and are one half of what creates children."

Arturia threw it away, the men scrambling away from it as it landed between them. Arturia looked to the captains and watched them cover their privates immediately as though she would do the same to them. "And those who insult me… get to deal not with me, but those who would come to my aid."

Bedivere let go of Gawain immediately and Gawain ran and punched the first captain on the nose, tackling him to the ground. Bedivere swung his axe and took the other man's head off. Arturia, satisfied with the display, looked to the men gathered around. "And those who would betray their Queen in such a manner be it from orders or by their own will… shall die as traitors and burned alive like heretics of the past."

Squires came forth bearing torches and chains. The men of Camelot moved away from them and the men of Marwick as they cried for mercy from Arturia. She kicked one on the face with her boot and broke the neck of another. "All of Marwick's soldiers shall die. All shall die because all are traitors to the crown!" she snarled, for the first time showing her anger. She ripped the tongue of one man out who begged at her feet for mercy and tossed it at another.

The squires chained the men together in a circle, all who were able to speak continued to cry for mercy. Arturia didn't give it. With a nod, the squires walked to the circle of men and set each one ablaze. When they each screamed in agony, she pulled her helmet off and let one of the squires come to her with a bit of chocolate that she had bought from a vendor. She ate it slowly, savoring the taste of it as she watched men trying to get away from each other as they each caught on fire and burned. When all were quiet and had fallen against each other, Arturia's armor disappeared and she had her people leave Leoness' gates. The only thing they left were the bodies of the dead Marwick men and the blazing circle of charred remains still smoldering from the fire that had been fueled.

* * *

Gwenivere came out later and surveyed the blackened remains of the Marwick men. She had to run off and vomit from the smell alone, much less the carnage. Was Arturia truly a woman? Or was she a demon sent from Hell in the quise of a woman who could take Excalibur from the stone it had been set in and wield it with unnatural strength like a man?

"Dig a trench and bury them as well as you can. There isn't… much there… that can be given a proper burial," said Gwenivere as she tried to keep the gag reflex down.

Her captains nodded and set about getting the trenches dug and the mass grave done. When that was done, a priest came over and blessed the ground and gave absolution to the men so they might pass into heaven. When all was done, Gwenivere was left to gaze at the mass grave and wonder. What was it that drove such a woman to such lengths? What hatred did this woman harbor to be able to do such unspeakable acts toward her fellow human beings; men who begged for mercy and she gave none?

With that final thought, Gwenivere walked back through Leoness' gates and went back to the castle with her guard following after her. Even with the events of the day, she was still Baroness of Leoness and she would continue to rule until she married.


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

_**A/N: don't. piss off. the queen. period.**_

_**And… I hate humans. Especially stupid ones that don't pay attention.**_

_**Chapter Twenty-Five**_

Arturia watched the lands to the east of Camelot. The land was silent and nothing moved. Gawain stood beside her with a pair of spyglasses, looking over the horizon. "Where on Earth did you find those things?" asked Bedivere.

"I found it when some Scottish bloke came through. He was selling some of his old junk and found theses interesting. You can see far things up close, see?" He gave it to Bedivere and Bedivere had a hard time giving them back when he looked through them, a look of awe on his face.

"Amazing! Simply amazing device!" cried Bedivere.

"We're watching the borders because of what Marwick said, Gawain… Bedivere," said Arturia as she eyed them. Both men smiled sheepishly at her and nodded, resuming their general alertness looks.

They watched the eastern border with nothing appearing. She had sent Emiya out with a special task while she took care of the eastern border with her troops. To the south was little to come through and they would have to go through the old ruins where the men from the wasteland were very keen on protecting themselves. She had sent a small number of troops to help them should someone come up that way, though she doubted anyone would.

"I see 'Vaine!" cried Gawain. "My brothers are coming back from the border!"

"Good, then that means they did exactly what I told them to," she said as she went to her horse and got up into her saddle. She rode out to Agravaine and Gaheris with two horses tied to her saddle, their horses, and stopped when she neared them. She untied the horses and handed them each their reigns. "You did as I asked?"

"Aye, my queen. They're up and waiting to see their friends!" said Agravaine with a grin.

"We'll know when they reach, since Merlin put the border spells up," said Gaheris. He swung himself up into his saddle and moved closer to Arturia. "And we'll know by the reactions o' the men when they find our little present to them."

Arturia smirked faintly and nodded. "Good. Let us head back to your brother and Bedivere."

They rode back and Agravaine took a hold of Arturia's arm and pulled her closer to him, whispering into her cold ear. "Don't think I accept you as my aunt, queen. Gawain may call you cousin, Gaheris might treat you similarly as family, but you are no family to me."

Arturia slowed her horse as he slowed his, watching Gaheris ride off to his brother and Bedivere. "How did you and your brothers know of me, Agravaine? Your mother clearly hates me."

She looked up at Agravaine as he gazed down at her. "Because Gawain wanted to know about the sister that mother never wanted to remember. Dad said something about you once and Gawain immediately set to grill him as often as he could on you until dad told us all about you. Mother doesn't like him much."

Arturia frowned more and looked away, Agravaine leaned closer to her ear again. "I serve you only because my brothers serve you and you are our queen. My loyalty is to my family first and you second, understand?"

"Then, I know where you lie," said Arturia, a strange shiver going down her spine. She was beginning to not like it when a man spoke into her ear like this, for it caused strange vibrations to go through her body.

Agravaine, thankfully, let go of Arturia and rode off after his brother. Arturia watched him go for a moment, thinking over what he said. Their father, Lot, had been the one to tell them about her. That meant Lot had been told of her by Morgan when they married and Morgan may have felt obligated to tell him so much being his wife. She certainly looked very happy to be with him.

Arturia snapped around when she heard the alarm go off. The border had been breached and people were coming. Agravaine, Geheris, Gawain and Bedivere were riding out to her position. She moved her horse around and grabbed the spyglasses that Gawain had around his neck. He had to duck out from the chain to keep from being strangled by the sudden force she used.

She put the spyglasses up to her eyes and looked out, just as Gawain had down. "They don't look right and I can't see clearly through them."

Gawain leaned over and started messing with the knobs of it before moving the pieces themselves against her face. She could see out through them now! "What magic is this?"

"Just readjusting them!" said Gawain, grinning at his new toy appreciatively.

Arturia looked out to the border and smirked. Men were coming closer on horseback, footsoldiers walked through the snow beside the horses. The man that was clearly the head of this operation came into focus. He was an older man and looked like he may have been fighting since her father was alive. In any case, he looked very prepared to chew their hides should they get within his grasp. He was going to be a tough one to turn back.

* * *

The Earl of Graystone came closer and watched as his men gasped and started to fall back. He saw what they gasped at. All along the border were heads on spears. He recognized one as the head of the Baron of Marwick. Underneath his head was another piece of his anatomy speared through and pointed toward him.

"What monster would put a man's tallywhacker on pike?!" cried one of Graystone's captains, making a look of absolute pain on his face as he thought about it.

Graystone eyed the spear and looked to Marwick's head. Despite the fact that he had joined this battle because of the Earl of Yewark, who was coming from the north, he now had a good understanding of his comrade's rival. "Clearly someone who knows how to scare men into submission," said Graystone to his captain.

"You can't be serious! This is clearly a woman who's possessed of the devil!" cried his captian.

"Clearly you've never been married to a shrew," said Graystone, liking this little queen more and more as he thought about it. By placing the bits of Marwick on a pike for display like she did, she was clearly trying to scare them off. Which meant, she wasn't far off and watching them for what they would do.

Indeed, he saw the queen and her four knights on their horses half a mile away. He squinted to see them and smirked. Her armor was black, so it didn't shine in the sun; however, it also made her obvious in the white landscape. Her hair and skin were as pale as the snow, however. If he weren't married already to a rather shrewish woman, he might enjoy the little queen. However, old age was already making it hard for him to move the way he used to in his youth. A young queen such as her would need someone who could keep up with her and he couldn't do that.

"Your orders, sir?" said his captain. "LOOK! THERE THEY ARE!!" his captain cried before all hell broke loose. All his men immediately went into battle, charging at the small troupe. Not even a single chance to meet before the battle!

"MEN! GET BACK HERE!!" he yelled, though it seemed they couldn't hear him. Damn them!

They didn't run, however. An army of black armored soldiers ran into back from the ridge behind them and clashed around their queen and superiors. Graystone made his way through the crowd as the queen started trying to get away. Her knights surrounded her to keep the men from getting to her, but it seemed impossible. Indeed, they weaved through and pulled her off her horse!

"DAMN IT! DON'T YOU MANGY LOT LAY A FINGER ON THAT WOMAN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME! ALL OF YOU, BACK BEHIND ME!"

His voice echoed on the white landscape as men stopped and looked to him. The four knights hurried over to find their queen. However, Graystone heard a loud cry of one of his men and saw a spray of blood. He watched as the crowd of men seemed to simultaneously move away and then get sucked back in only to disappear in a spray of blood. "GET BACK FROM HER NOW!"

This time, the men obeyed, getting as far from Arturia as they could get. Her knights ran over to her and Graystone got off his horse and walked over. He marched through his men and then stopped at the pieces of bodies in front of him. It was a royal mess! Covered in their blood, Arturia glared angrily at Graystone, holding her sword ready.

Graystone held up a hand and then put his fists on his waist. "So I finally meet the little queen, aye? Al said you were very small," he said.

"My height has nothing to do with this, sir," she said, still glaring defiantly at him.

He smirked at her, chuckling softly. "You are a spirited girl, that is evident. I should think I would enjoy a good combat with you, however, I am getting on in years and can not perform as well as I used to. My men, however, think that gives them the right to attack without my command."

"We set up a warning, it is only right you should," she said, relaxing slightly, though still holding her sword ready. "Know this… we set fire to Marwick's men and will likely do similar to you and yours should you try to continue this ridiculousness."

"Ah.. That's the thing, isn't it, Queen Arturia," he said, scratching at his beard. "What do we do when we are to be fighting against each other?" He smirked as he watched her. "I have no stomach for fighting you now, your highness. It was on a favor from Albert of Yewark that I should help him invade. Found the whole damn thing silly myself, but Yewark is a coward and willing to against a big battalion as yours to get what he wants."

"Then, where do you lie?" asked Arturia.

Graystone smirked faintly as he crossed his arms in front of his massive chest. "Give an old man his chance to fight the queen."

Gawain and Bedivere looked to each other. Gaheris snorted and Agravaine frowned. Arturia straightened and put her sword down, looking him straight in the eye and nodded. "Fine. You may battle me. Should you lose, you must go north and turn back Yewark. Should I lose…"

"I get a kiss," said Graystone, smiling boyishly at her. Somehow she was reminded a little of an older version of Gawain by the way he acted.

Arturia nodded after a moment. "All right. I will kiss you should you win. Is that all you require of me should you win against me?"

"Oh no, that will be plenty. After that, we'll just turn back and let you deal with Yewark," said the old Earl. He pulled his long, curly, gray hair back into a ponytail and then pulled up his shield and sword.

Arturia had no shield, for she had Excalibur and Avalon. She merely waited until the older man was ready. For someone who complained that he was too old to fight, his body was in remarkable shape. His head wasn't even balding, though his beard and head both were gray.

"You don't use a shield?" he asked as he gazed at her.

"I have no need of one. My sword is all I need," she said, her face unchanging like the snow.

Graystone grinned and pulled his visor down. Then, he ran at Arturia, swinging his sword down on her. She blocked him and pulled her sword up, sending him backward. She was far stronger than she looked, that was for certain! As he fought her, he slowly saw that this woman was indeed not normal. Her size was very small, yet she had the strength of a man. Every cut he made on her seemed to disappear after he made another one on her. It was as though she could heal everything as though she were made of magic!

Graystone moved back and panted heavily, grunting with the effort. She was small and fast and that gave her an edge against him. "You are very good, little queen," he said.

She didn't say anything. She simply shrugged and advanced on him. He stumbled back and landed on his rear in the snow. Arturia advanced on him and swung her sword down on him. He blocked her and moved back some more, trying to get some distance between her and him. He moved around her in a dizzying move, almost dancing before he moved around and caught her on her back. The armor there made his sword bounce off; however, it sent her forward into the snow. She gasped as she forced herself up from the snow and looked up at him. He reached down and pointed his sword at Avalon on her back. "That is what heals you?" he asked.

"Yes… it is," she said as she watched him.

"I win," he said, grinning at her. He tapped the scabbard with his sword and she let out a yelp. He blinked as she rolled away and covered herself. "Don't touch it!" she snarled.

Graystone blinked for a moment more and looked to the black sword on the ground. He picked it up and held it out to her. "Your blade, m'lady," he said softly. "Now, my reward."

Arturia watched him for a moment, seething that he had made his way to her back and shoved her into the snow. However, she wasn't about to deny him his request. She got to her feet and walked over to him, raising up on her toes to reach him. He leaned down and smirked. "I'm old, but my eyes can still see and my hands and feet can still react the way they used to. Do not be offended, my queen, for I simply wished to fight you for the pleasure of fighting a woman in an equal combat."

"Take your kiss and then leave, Graystone," she said, looking irritated.

Graystone chuckled. "It's Robert," he said.

"Robert."

"Graystone is fine," he said, grinning broadly.

"Graystone."

"Yes?"

"Get on with it before I lose my patience."

Graystone laughed heartily as did several men, including her four knights. She fumed with embarrassment and outrage and wished every single one of them to be silent. She didn't notice when he had done it, but Graystone had swiftly descended upon her and scooped her up against his large body, his mouth against her in a kiss. If he weren't so old, and he hadn't insulted her pride, she might have thought about him as a possible candidate for her king, for he was stirring her simply by kissing her. It was like being kissed by Cuchulainn all over again, except he didn't delve into her mouth. When he pulled away, he grinned and put her on her feet before stepping away from her and bowing down to her. The men chuckled and made catcalls at her before they were silenced by an angry glare from Graystone.

"You will turn back now, correct?" asked Arturia, frowning at him.

Graystone whistled and his horse came trotting over to him. He pulled himself up into the saddle and nodded. "As we agreed, I will leave. MEN! GET YOUR LAZY ASSES IN GEAR AND MOVE IT!" The men around Arturia scrambled to follow their leader as they moved out.

Arturia's men cheered and laughed as the group left. Gawain rolled his eyes and grinned at Arturia. "So, you're a wanted woman."

"I'm a what?" Arturia looked to her nephew with a puzzled expression.

Gawain grinned more. "You're wanted by all men!" He laughed as her cheeks went pinker. She turned away abruptly and started back toward Camelot. "MEN! We have to go north! Come!" With that, they headed toward the northern border, Arturia's men still laughing and joking about the battle's outcome.


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

_**A/N: graystone I imagine being like Iroh. Just this really awesome old man who only needs a reason to get moving on the warpath. XD **_

_**And yay! It's cold now! XD ;w; they don't have yellow crystals where I get them at hobby lobby so I'm gonna have to look around more to find what I want. w**_

_**Chapter Twenty-Six**_

A messenger came through Ulster. Cuchulainn found that the little queen had not only taken the head and penis off Marwick for treason, but burned all his men together before going back to Camelot. One part of him found the whole idea amusing, another part made him frown. Showing no mercy was one thing, but out and out torture of men was another. He had seen a few of the "heretics" in Briton burn for believing a different way and he knew that their deaths were torturous.

The things said about the little queen made him wonder if they were true or not. That she had one of her men slaughter a group of villagers as a show and that she was keeping a watch out on Camelot and in the other towns in Briton for traitors. He hated people who were disloyal to their leaders, but he also frowned upon out and out slaughter. Soldiers killing each other in battle were one thing, but killing innocent women and children was something else entirely.

Had he misjudged the little queen he had admired so?

* * *

The Earl of Yewark stood at the northern border of their capital, Camelot. The heads of those that had lived in Camelot, those who had informed them of the terrible queen and helped to rebel against her, sat upon spears imbedded in the ground. He was a thin, young man, his built muscled, but not overly so. His blonde hair was cropped short and his goatee was pale and sparse, due to his young age and his pale hair.

"My liege, what do you want us to do? These heads are of comrades, are they not?" asked Albert of Yewark's captain.

Albert looked at the head nearest to him and reached over, pushing the hair from the head's face. His eyes were rolled back in a sickening look of torment. He had gashes across his face, though not deep. Whoever had killed him had been not too clean in the kill. He had been harried and forced, killing any who got near him. "The one who killed these men was not the queen. She is not so out of control that she would lay waste like this. This is the work of a madman, a man who goes crazy in battle and doesn't know friend from foe when he goes into his battle rage."

The captain shuddered and looked away. "The queen is said to keep a pet dog that she sends out to do her bidding. She raised him up into her familiar."

"A witch of the foul sort, then? A dark witch who uses her magic for evil rather than the good witches and wizards we have seen in our past? Hmmm…." Albert stroked his beard thoughtfully and moved away from the heads.

In the near distance, he saw a man standing. He was dressed in all black, his clothes of leather and bound tight against his body. He wore a coat that fell down to his ankles and was also of the same deep black leather as his clothing, his hands partially covered in a typical archer's glove style. His skin was tanned, but his hair was as white as the snow. As Albert looked on at the man, he saw faint, pale, scars across his face like a wild cat had clawed him.

"Look alive, men. We have one of Camelot's in front of us. No clue who he is, however, for he looks like he might be an archer, by the looks of those sleeves, however, he carries no weapon on him." Indeed, as Albert looked at the strange man, he noticed that the man carried no weapons whatsoever. He was completely unarmed.

"Why would they send a man out without a weapon?" asked Albert's captain. "Not even a knife on his belt. It's as though he thinks he's immortal or something."

"Unusual, very unusual. It could mean that he has men behind him waiting to strike and he is a decoy. Send a volley of arrows behind him at that ridge and see if we strike anything." Albert nodded to his captain and watched his captain move behind him and ride to the line of archers standing ready.

In a matter of moments, the sky seemed to darken as arrows loosed from their bows flew through the sky and fell on the ridge behind the man. The man did not move. He stood as still as a statue, as though he were unafraid one of the arrows would hit him. A few fell at his feet, but did not hit him; Albert's archers were some of the best to be had. His father had lent them to the little queen a few years back when Briton was going to be invaded by the king from the Middle East. Now that Albert was in charge, he wasn't pleased with this little woman who dared to take such a position she was not righted to would act so unjustly toward her own people. In the past, it was said women had a lot of power; however, that was the past. He was not one to allow such a willful woman do as she pleased on the throne when it seemed the woman was more a tyrant than a woman.

Nothing happened when the arrows made their marks behind the Camelot man. He continued to stay in his spot and no one shouted from behind him or did anything. He was, therefore, alone and unarmed. "Let's see what he wants. MEN! Follow through!"

The assembled army moved through the border and went toward the single man standing in the snow. Albert moved toward him and stopped not far from him. "Who are you? Why are you here? Were you sent to talk?"

The man lifted his face and looked up at Albert, his hazel eyes gazing at him oddly. Was that a sneer on his face? His face was odd, looking like a cross between a white man and an Asian. His eyes were rounded, but still slanted, his cheekbones high and pretty, but his jaw strong and squared slightly. He was handsome, though he was odd looking. When he spoke, his voice was deep and was accented like that of nobility. He, therefore, either learned to speak English from a noble or was noble born. "I am here to talk," he said, "I am here to learn of who would attack my queen."

"A messenger then?" Albert frowned. The lady put a lot of trust in him to not kill anyone who came from the other side of the border. "Tell your queen that I will talk with no other but her. She must answer for crimes against her own people, answer for being a tyrant before she strengthens the steel glove she has upon us already."

The man did not move, he snorted derisively at Albert. Albert kicked the man on the jaw. "Do as your told, servant, and do not act so rudely toward your superior!"

The man's head had whipped to the side from the force of Albert's kick, but he didn't budge further than that. He was accustomed to being thrashed, it seemed. The man, instead, moved back to the way he was standing and gazed coldly toward Albert, hazel eyes starting to turn gray. "That wasn't nice," he said.

In a blur of movement, Albert had to shoot off his saddle in order to avoid a knife being thrown at him. His men went immediately into action. The man moved as though he weren't human. He seemed to pull weapons from no where and have them in his hands in the blink of an eye. How was he pulling them out if he was unarmed?!

Albert pulled his sword out and advanced on the man, moving backward when he swung at him with a blackened curved short sword. How was this man moving so fast?! He thrust his blade at him and saw him dodge; he swung the sword down and saw the man move away. Then, all at once, his own sword was sliced in two.

Albert moved back fast to avoid being cut in two like his own sword. The man had to kill others before he could come after him, which gave him a decent amount of time to find a way to his horse again. The army swarmed the man and yet, the man never seemed to run out of weaponry.

A cry from the ridge caught Albert's attention as an entire army of black clad warriors ran at them. Amidst this group of men was a woman with very pale hair and skin riding toward him on her black horse, black armor covering a black battle dress. She held up a sword that was just as black as everything else on her, save the red lines and circles covering it. Albert swung up onto his horse and rode at her, pulling out another sword to use.

Albert's horse fell underneath him. A man jumped on top of him and threw him to the ground. Albert hit the ground with a jolt and rolled across the blood splattered snow. He groaned as he attempted to sit up, but a sharp pain in his shoulder stopped him. He yelped in pain and put his hand on the offending blade as he squinted up at his attacker. Gold eyes were set in the face of the little queen that he despised so much. She gazed impassively down at him and wrenched the blade. Albert cried out again.

"No mercy," she said. Then, she ripped the blade out from his shoulder and brought it down on his head.

Everyone stopped to look at the leader of Yewark. His body was bloody from a gaping hole in his shoulder and imbedded in his forehead was Excalibur. Arturia stepped on his throat and pulled the sword out of his skull. After wiping her sword off on her cloak and stowing it back in Avalon, she looked to the men watching her.

"Monster… she's a monster!" cried one man.

"She's not human!"

"She's the devil sent to earth!"

"That's WAR," snarled Gawain. "You petty politicians and sniveling pansies need to remember something. You turn against the queen or the king and you will ultimately DIE." He wiped off his face and moved closer to Arturia's side.

Arturia looked to the men. She walked amongst them and raised her hand. She touched one and then walked through the crowd again and touched another. She did this for a few minutes until she had selected ten men and then walked back to where Bedivere and Gawain were waiting, their swords out and ready to fight. "The men who I have touched, you will take back a message and spread it around. Those who rebel against me will have no mercy shown to them. Their towns will be razed and their leaders tortured and killed right in front of them before all of the people will be set aflame like their precious towns. Those who I have touched, you will take that home with you and leave my presence now."

Ten men moved out of the crowd, looking very wary as to what they should do and got on what horses they could find and made a break for it while Arturia was feeling generous. When they had disappeared over the hill, Arturia made her way to her horse. Gaheris looked to Arturia. "What of the rest of the men, my queen? What should we do with them?"

"Take them to Camelot. I have a plan to perform there." Then, she swung up onto her saddle and looked to the men being rounded up by Arturia. "You may resist if you wish, though it won't make much difference in your fates. My men are very good at what they do and they follow only me."

There was little resistance against the men of Camelot. At that notice, they knew they were going to either die or live, but it wouldn't be at Arturia's mercy and it wouldn't be because they fought the men of Camelot, who outnumbered them now. They were outnumbered thanks to one lone archer with white hair who had disappeared when Albert was killed. Their lord wouldn't be able to help them now, for he was with God and only He could judge him now.

* * *

The bell tolled in the town. People came from their houses and assembled at the town square, where a bunch of men were lined up and stripped naked in front of them and made to kneel on the stones. Arturia appeared and walked out in front of them. "These are traitors from Yewark. They came to invade Camelot because of some other nobles who felt I was unfit to be your sovereign ruler. Because I am a woman."

She walked in front of the men and her armor started covering her body like it was living. "Therefore, these men have forfeited their rights as human beings and thus their right to being treated as such and executed in a civil manner."

A couple men started crying, blubbering behind her. Some of the men lifted their chins up and gave her a bold look of defiance. Most simply looked away and closed their eyes, waiting for their end. As Arturia made her way down the line, she didn't touch them. "I wish to remind people that I am indeed your queen and will rule as a king would rule. I was chosen for this role by you and the sword Excalibur. For that, I do my best, but it seems… my best is not good enough."

She stopped at the end of the line and turned. "Therefore, I will do as I said I would and deal out the execution of traitors by my own hand."

People moved back, scared as to what Arturia would do to the men. Some were fascinated by watching her; others were down right scared out of their wits. What if they did something to anger her? What if they were to join the ranks of these men?

"Squires. Chain them up together," she said.

A few squires came out from behind the soldiers with chains in their hands and started pulling the men together in a big huddle and chained them together. They fidgeted and snapped at one another as they found themselves unable to move from the huddle.

A squire came over to Arturia and handed her a torch. "Good. Now…. Bring out the body of Lord Albert of Yewark. I wish him to join his ranks." Men pulled out a bloody body of a blonde haired man with a sword wound in his forehead. The men of Yewark saw him and yelped as the body was thrown on top of them. Then, Arturia took her torch and walked over, holding it out in front of her. Men tried to get away from the fire, sniveling and crying out. "Suffer in hell for your treason, men of Yewark. This is as much mercy as I will ever give you." Then, she tossed the fire onto them and moved away.

It started slowly, the cries of the men on fire echoing through the village. Then, the fire spread over them and soon after, all the men were engulfed in the blaze, trying to get away from their bonds, but unable to move. Each man cried to God to save them, to come down and take them away from their misery as they slowly burned to death, nothing came.

When the group finally collapsed, men still crying out in pain as they burned, Arturia walked toward the castle with her soldiers behind her, leaving the townfolk in her wake to watch the horror show before them.

"She is a monster," murmured one.

"She's evil, so cold."

Such whispers were kept as soft as possible. In the days to come, such things would be heard by the ears of those loyal only to Arturia and passed to her and then they would be silenced by her assassin archer, Emiya. Word spread from Yewark onward of her atrocities, but none save the nobles of Briton were willing to do anything about it. The Welsh king didn't feel it was his place to say what she could and couldn't do against her own people. The Irish kings kept away for they had their own troubles. The Scottish clans didn't come down and the wizards living there didn't venture around the waste except those wishing to join the general populace.

_Long live the queen._


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

_**A/N: aaaaaaaah you thought that was the end? Like hell! XD This keeps going. As I said… EPIC.**_

_**Chapter Twenty-Seven**_

A great tragedy befell Ulster and Ireland. The king Conochbar and his wife and his brood were all slaughtered in the night. The main hall where they were all residing in had been set on fire and the bodies burned until they were nearly unrecognizable. One of the children ran out, but he was shot down and set on fire as well, though not as badly. The arrow wound in his body was that of Connacht's arrows, though the fire burned the shaft away and left only the arrow head in his body.

The people, outraged, wanted to storm Connacht's borders and kill the king and queen for such out right treachery. However, they needed a new king and the line of kings was either out of the borders or dead. Queen Maeve heard of the problem and said her husband and her would come and sign a treaty if it would prove to the people that they were innocent of such crimes, for they continuously told Ireland that they had not done anything to their royal line.

The people cried out for their hero, Cuchulainn, to be the new king, for they knew he would lead them well. He was reluctant, however. He never wanted such responsibility and vehemently refused until there was no other alternative for him to go. When he took the throne, he did it with a troubled feeling, though he would lead his people with as much heart as he could. He was their king of heroes, after all!

"I didn't kill your royal line," said Queen Maeve to Cuchulainn as she sat at a table with him. "I hate Ulstermen, but I'm not about to kill women and children."

Cuchulainn eyed Maeve for a moment and grinned. "Really? That isn't what I saw when you invaded Ulster a few years back."

Maeve saw a dangerous glint flash in the new king's eye. She remembered vividly their rapid retreat back to Connacht, and the man who had caused her so much grief in the long run to get that damned bull to her pen. "They ran out on their own, I had no hand in it other than my men defending themselves."

Cuchulainn leaned back, eyeing Maeve for a moment and nodded. "Fine. You'll have your treaty, but I want to have a hand in it being drawn up. In fact, I think I want an Ulster scribe to draw it up for me with me present, since I don't trust a bliven word you say."

Maeve felt as though she were run through with a very cold, sharp, sword. He was not taking his chances with her and that left her little opportunity to deal; especially with a man who she clearly despised more than anyone else in the world. "If it will please you, then do so. I am just trying to keep you Ulstermen from invading my borders."

"Your borders are old and boring and used by too many men," said Cuchulainn, leaning back against his chair a little more, looking very bored. Maeve caught his meaning and turned red, but didn't say anything. He smirked and clasped his hands together as he rested his elbows on the armrests of his chair. "Now, all we have to us now is the proof that you did not send out any of your men, not that your men didn't do it by themselves."

Maeve shot out of her chair and slammed her hands on the table. "I did NOTHING! My MEN did NOTHING! Don't you DARE make such a claim!"

Cuchulainn eyed her, his gaze becoming very dark. "I'll make every claim I want. You are the one who offended Ulster and thus offended me, bitch. But I'll take the treaty as your word and thus keep you from doing any worse damage than you have to my home."

Maeve opened and closed her mouth, outraged beyond words, looking similar to a fish out of water. She finally let out a roar of a scream of her frustration and stalked out of the tent he had erected for their use out near the border of Ulster. When she had left, Laeg came out of his shadowed hiding place and walked over to Cuchulainn. "Cuchualinn, are you certain of what you are doing?"

"I have never been so certain in my life, Laeg. That woman is up to something, though I'm sure it wasn't her who ordered a killing of Conochbar and his family. Whoever is was that did kill them all is either very good at disguising themselves, or rogue Connacht soldiers." He got to his feet and started helping to get the tent taken down with the table and chairs. "We need to get back before they try to claim I'm disappearing on them as I normally would."

"You knew that was the price of being king, Cuchulainn. That was why you never wanted it," said Laeg, smiling faintly at his friend. "You're as wild as the hounds you're named for and as loyal too."

Cuchulainn grinned at his friend and laughed, shoving the table on the cart and dusting himself off. Laeg handed him the chairs and he loaded them up as well. When they left to go home, Maeve was still riding back to Connacht with her own people, seething from the insult that she had received from the new king.

* * *

Arturia sat in her chambers and dealt with the paperwork that had been given to her. People were imprisoned for small amounts of time for them to get the idea that she was not a woman to trifle with. Those she killed were more serious offenses that she held no tolerance for. Thankfully, most people were simply too frightened of her to make an offense against her or anyone else. She didn't like the idea of keeping the people frightened of her, but she didn't like the idea of letting them conspire against her like the people had been doing since she set fire to the men of Yewark.

Then, there was the growing problem of the tariffs on goods from Ireland and Scotland. She needed to remedy those immediately before she could even begin to bring any semblance of peace to her people. If only they knew how much work she had to go through to simply just get people decent bread grains that they could use. Ireland was too small to accommodate all of Britain and Wales. Scotland was a self sufficient area that was closed off to anyone save the Irish and that was because they were pretty well the same people!

She looked out the window and saw a messenger come to the castle, baring the banner of Ireland. She stopped and stood up, walking out of her room and down the stairs to the main hall. Merlin was speaking to the messenger, taking the parchment from him and nodding. "Merlin, is it for me?"

Merlin looked over at his pupil. She had been sleeping very little since the rebellions started. It was taking a toll on her health, her complexion was ashen and her eyes had dark circles under them. He worried for his little pupil, though he knew she did a great deal that upset him greatly. He both understood her standing and could not condone some of the things she did. Still, she was like a daughter to him and he could not stand to see her so miserable.

"You should rest, Arturia," he said softly as he handed her the parchment.

She did not look up at him, but kept her gaze down at the parchment. "I can no show the smallest bit of weakness to these hounds. They will gang up upon me should I show anything they might consider weak."

This was true, for he had seen such behavior before. Merlin watched her break the seal and head up to the room that had become her prison cell. She hardly came out anymore except to perform tasks that required her presence. She took her meals inside her chambers and only spoke to him or her servant Emiya, who had taken to making her meals himself and dressing her hair himself. The boy had come a long way from the child they had found when he had killed his previous master and crawled his way through the snow to the kitchen entrance. He was an excellent archer and swordsman. He was very fast and used his imaging flawlessly. Arturia had put him through his paces when he was young, which, Merlin suspected, was the reason he was so good at what he was trained to do.

"Please sleep after you read the letter, Arturia. You need proper rest," said Merlin, watching the form of his student disappear up the stairs.

"All right, master," she said absently.

Arturia finally opened the letter and looked at it with interest. The wax seal had a stamp of a strange sort of stylized dog or wolf snarling on it. The letter itself was very formal, neatly written and did not look quite like the seal stamped on it would have indicated.

_Arturia Pendragon, Queen of Briton,_

_You are invited to come to the coronation of Ireland's new king, Cuchulainn, the king of Irish Heroes. His wife and his majesty both wish you to come on this joyous occasion so that he might have the chance to meet his nobles and fellow kings and queens. _

_Signed,_

_Cuchulainn, King of Ulster and Ireland_

Arturia frowned as she gazed at the letter and looked up when she heard a faint shuffling sound. A man with shaggy white hair that fell into his eyes walked out of the shadows and stopped when he was in the light. His face was drawn and pale, he looked as though he were about to collapse. "Was there a sword fight?" she asked, looking him up and down as she put the note down on a chair.

"Yes," he said; his deep voice soft and smooth to her ears. He was over six feet tall now and broad shouldered, though his waist and hips were thin. His stomach muscles could be seen through the stretched black leather on his chest and stomach. He moved a little closer and Arturia saw a hurried bandage on his side and shoulder.

"Go to my bed and lie down," she said. She went over to her sword and scabbard and picked it up, walking behind Emiya as he limped his way to her bed and dropped onto it. "You should know better than to let yourself be hurt so badly, Emiya. I can't be with you when you do these errands of mine and the potions I give you need to last as far as you going to and coming home."

"I'm sorry, my queen," he said softly, watching her through his lashes. Once again, after so long, she felt a strange melting in her belly, much like the time before when she was punishing Emiya for being insolent and the first kiss she ever received from a man. That time she had been healing Cuchulainn, much like she was about to do to Emiya. Would Emiya respond the same as Cuchulainn did when she touched Avalon?

Arturia pulled Emiya's coat off slowly. She gently untied the sides of his shirt and pulled it off as well, then went for his trousers, noticing he had had some form of a limp. He didn't protest. He simply laid back and let her small hands work his clothes off of him. When he was younger, he would have protested, and did often, but not anymore. He was used to being patched up by his queen, accustomed to her small hands touching his body in ways he wished she would explore more, though he knew it was only for the sake of healing him up before he was sent out to kill someone else.

He lie naked on her bed, bared to the chill of her room, though he felt warmth from her blanket beneath him and the furs under his legs as well as from the fireplace still burning at the other side of the room. He felt her place Avalon upon his chest and watched her look him over carefully. "You've damaged yourself pretty badly, Emiya. How on Earth did you make it home?" she said softly.

"Will power," he said, smirking faintly.

Arturia looked to him and then looked away, a small pink flush appearing on her pale cheeks. "You should be more careful, Emiya."

"I try, but things happen," he said softly and closed his eyes. He felt a strange warmth entering his body through his heart. It pounded harder beneath the heat and made him groan. He felt his wounds heal by themselves and whatever else was damaged on him heal as well. This was a familiar heat, however, for he had become accustomed to Arturia using the scabbard to heal him for many years now.

When he opened his eyes, he saw her staring at his hips, her cheeks more flushed now than they had been previously. He knew what was causing her to stare and he smirked to himself to know it fascinated her still. The pounding of his heart was growing unbearable and he needed her to get the scabbard off him before he did something that both of them would be embarrassed about later. "I'm healed now," he said, panting heavily as he reached up and touched her cheek to get her attention.

Arturia moved her cheek into his hand and closed her eyes. Her lips were partially open and inviting, though he knew he was not the one that was invited to them. He put his other hand on hers and moved the scabbard and sword off of him as he sat up. "My queen," he said softly.

Arturia's eyes snapped open and she looked up at Emiya, eyes like molten gold. "Are you healed?" She stopped and looked over him, nodding. "You are." Then, she picked up the scabbard and sword and walked out, skirts making soft noises as she walked out quickly.

He knew what she would be doing as she allowed him time to get dressed. She was more transparent to him the longer he stayed by her side. When she healed him, he would catch her staring at his hips, at his cock, and then she would walk away quickly to get her composure back. She didn't often lose herself, however. She merely stared in fascination, but when the healing was done, she would be off to simply cool down in her study where he wouldn't enter unless it was a very important matter he needed to speak to her about. By the looks of her, however, he was certain she was beginning to remember the fact that her body was still that of an untried virgin and that she was eternally stuck with the visage of a young woman. He hips were wide and her shoulders were narrow, though they had grown a little since she worked with her sword, her breasts were small swells and had remained as such since before he had known her.

When Emiya's body had calmed down, he dressed himself and walked out of the bedroom where she slept. She had a bed set in the main chamber for him to sleep in so he could be close by her side should someone attack her. He looked to the note on the chair she had been reading before she had noticed him. The letter itself had been taken, but the sealed envelope that bore the wax seal she had broken was still there. It was a hound stamp that had been used. The hound had sent her a letter. He glared at the seal and made the envelope burn in his hand without thinking. He would have been fine if she had chosen one such as Bedivere as her consort; however, this hound of Chulainn irritated him more than anything else. He chose to take lovers outside of his own wife and would likely do the same to Arturia if she were taken in any further by him. Bedivere and Gawain had earned his trust long ago and still kept it. Cuchulainn had not and would never earn any trust from him, for he knew the blighter was a scoundrel at heart!

He let the ashes drop and walked out of the room to practice in the firing range. There, he knew, he could clear his head to keep the raging anger inside of him silent and forget the screams of the children and women he had killed over the years.

* * *

Gilgamesh looked at the belly of Mei and rubbed it gently. Mei had grown so very large of the past few months and it worried him that her small frame could not handle such a burden. He knew Fathia and Asma could, for they were much taller and larger bodied to Mei, whose body seemed to be more like a half grown girl's than a woman's.

Mei watched Gilgamesh quietly as he cooed to her stomach. "Just don't sing, please. I'm afraid you'll force him to become tone deaf when he comes out."

Gilgamesh snorted and eyed Mei. "I can sing! I have a fine voice!"

"You have a fine speaking voice, my lord, but not a fine singing voice. Your singing voice is like the screeches of many crows caught by surprise."

Gilgamesh pouted as he looked away from her. She smiled faintly and stroked his hair. "My king shall have a child from my body soon enough. Asma has also become very large with a child as Fathia has started her morning sickness. You'll have children growing out of your ears soon."

Gilgamesh blinked at Mei and frowned. "What? How is that possible?"

Mei chuckled softly and leaned back against her pillows. "It is merely an expression, my lord. I merely meant that you will have as many children as you can possible handle. What will you name ours should it be a boy?"

Gilgamesh looked to her stomach and smiled faintly, boyishly almost. That was a rare look on his young face. "Enkidu. It will be a boy, no doubt. I can feel it."

Mei nodded and smiled at Gilgamesh faintly. "Then, he shall be named Enkidu as my lord wishes."

"Call me Gilgamesh, Mei," said Gilgamesh as he continued to not look at her.

"You are embarrassed to make such a request, Gilgamesh?" asked Mei, knowing full well she was right when his cheeks grew very red.

"I am not!" he snapped and then poutd once more, looking at her belly. "I am simply asking you to call me by my name. We're alone together and you are a wife to me as are Asma and Fathia."

Mei smiled faintly and leaned over to him, kissing his cheek. "You're very sweet, my love."

Gilgamesh once again blushed heavily and grinned arrogantly at her. "Of course I am. I am the king of all you see and more still than that!"

"Will you go meet with the new king of Ireland?" asked Mei softly.

"No," said Gilgamesh, looking away and looking very irritated suddenly. "I don't like associating with these pathetic little kings and queens when they themselves aren't very interesting."

"He is said to be the famous Hound of Ulster."

Gilgamesh looked to her with interest. "That one, hmmm?" He looked to her belly and rubbed it gently, worry etched into his young face. "Not now. After you give birth."

"What of Asma, then? What if she births while you are away?" said Mei, now starting to glower at him. He shriveled slightly at the sight and then looked away once more.

"Fine, I won't leave until after Asma gives birth. By then, Fathia should just be beginning to enter the last months," said Gilgamesh with a grunt.

Mei smiled faintly and kisses Gilgamesh's cheek once more. "Good."


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

_**A/N: and so we get closer to the actual stuff that I sooooo sosososo wanted to do. :3**_

_**Chapter Twenty-Eight**_

Cuchulainn oversaw the preparations to his coronation. He had a great deal of sympathy for other kings and queens for having put up with this mess. He had taken the position as king unofficially and now he had to show everyone he was in this position and thus ruler, that he was officially Ireland's king. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to deal with Connacht being there, since they flat out refused the invite. In fact, he seemed to recall that they sent the messenger back with a few bruises on his face for even asking.

Emer walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I know this makes you uncomfortable, Cu."

Cuchulainn smiled faintly and stroked Emer's hair gently, curling a lock of her hair around his finger. "Aye, it does. However, I'm willing to do it if the people are so adamant to make me take the position."

Emer looked up at him and smiled warmly. She leaned up and kissed him gently and pulled away. "I'll be with the other ladies, then, dealing with linens and things."

Cuchulainn nodded and looked around the main hall. They had been lucky that the hall hadn't collapsed entirely. They were able to put new wood in on such short notice and clean the soot from the stones. As they put up fresh banners and rugs, Cuchulainn went to the stairs and went up to check on the maidservants.

He found them working diligently to make the rooms nice and livable. They giggled and blushed becomingly around him when they saw him, causing him to chuckle softly. He would have to snatch one of them later for a nice bit of fun. He grinned as he thought about it, walking into a room where Emer worked diligently with other ladies. His thoughts about the maidservants gone, he could only stare at Emer with a small smile on his face, warmly beaming at her from the door. She looked up and smiled at him gently and waved before going back to work. When he was around Emer, he forgot all else around him. She was the one he chose to be his wife first and knew his decision was right, for she could capture his attention with but a glance his way and a smile.

Riders could be seen coming to the castle. Cuchulainn looked out the window and then ran down to the main hall. His best riders were saddling up to go greet them. He hopped on his horse as well and joined them. "Coming along, Cuchulainn?" grinned one of his riders.

"Aye, I want to see who it is. The guests haven't arrived yet and we have someone coming so quickly," he said, grinning.

They rode to meet the riders and came up beside them, Cuchulainn holding up his hand. "Greetings! And would this be the party for the Queen of Briton?"

"It is!" said Bedivere. He recognized him immediately for his face was still rather feminine.

He looked around the ground and saw one with his hood drawn up, but his face was dark, though not like that of a black man. Who was he? Right next to him was a smaller person, obviously female by the way her cloak draped over her body. She moved her face toward Cuchulainn and he grinned. "And the little queen graces our presence once again?"

Arturia pulled back her hood and Cuchulainn stared in wonder. She had not aged one day since the last time he had seen her. No, not even that. Not since the **first** time he had seen her! She didn't look a day older than sixteen and she had to at least be the same age as he was!

"Yes, it is me, lord Cuchulainn," said Arturia softly, gazing at him. Not for the first time he noticed how genuinely pretty she was. He face was stone cold, but for some reason that seemed to add to her mystery. A sort of challenge to make her visage crack. He'd seen her smile at him before. He'd seen the mask break down a little before, but never enough.

"Just Cuchulainn, lass, don't add the lord in. It makes me feel old," said Cuchulainn as he moved his horse through the barricade of her knights and chuckled. The knights let him through and he was able to get up beside her horse.

Her cheeks turned a vivid pink as she watched him come up beside her horse and grin at her boyishly. "Now you are going to be king, you should think about what you do in front of your people and what they will think of you a bit more."

"Aye, I know that well enough. However, I think you have the better idea of not caring too greatly about what they will or won't think about you," he said as he gazed at the gates. "I trust you'll enjoy your stay in Ulster, Arturia?"

Arturia's spine shivered suddenly. Cuchulainn blinked at her and leaned over, putting an arm around her carefully. "Better get you inside before you catch your death, then." He grinned deviously and leaned closer. "I still wear your little gift, little queen." Then, he moved away and rode through the gates ahead of them. Arturia's cheeks flushed scarlet as she watched him ride away, her heart pounding hard in her chest. The hero of Ulster, now to be crowned king of Ulster, was running away with her heart and she hoped he would notice it soon. The pain in her chest was becoming unbearable when she saw him.

* * *

When she was situated and settled inside the walls of Ulster, Arturia went walking out among the men. The soldiers all wore less clothing than that of her own men. The newest knights to join her, Gawain's youngest brother Gareth, who was a smaller young man with short brown hair and bright blue eyes, Calogrenant, a man with a very graceful air to him, and Garaint, all were joining the soldiers in their practice and enjoying themselves greatly. Bedivere kept mostly to himself and Gawain flirted with the ladies, as usual. Arturia watched them silently for a moment before heading through.

Arturia found herself having strange emotions. When she watched her knights enjoy themselves, she wanted to join them in their fun. When she watched Emer smile at Cuchulainn, she wanted to rip the woman apart. When she was alone with Cuchulainn, her heart hurt terribly. She was confused by these emotions and wondered why they occurred.

"A lady shouldn't be alone," said a familiar voice. Arturia looked over her shoulder and up to see Cuchulainn smiling at her. "Are you enjoying the warm climate?"

Arturia nodded and looked away. "I am."

Cuchulainn watched her a moment and reached his hand up, brushing his knuckles against her soft cheek. Arturia flushed and snapped her head around to look up at him. He was frowning faintly. "I've heard some disturbing things about you, little queen."

Arturia's chest felt odd, as though something died inside of it. "And?"

"You refused the hand of the Welsh prince. Why? You need a king, don't you?" he asked, continuing his odd torture on her cheek.

"I don't need a king. I wish to have a husband, however, but I do not care for Welsh princes," she said softly, looking up at him with those gold eyes of hers.

"Then, what do you wish for?"

Arturia gazed up at Cuchulainn and found the look of his face unreadable. While he usually hid whatever he felt behind a smile, his face was in a frown now and looked oddly concerned. He leaned down and held her face with both of his hands, looking directly into her eyes. "You haven't aged one bit since I first met you. You're the same age as me, maybe a year younger or so, but the same age still. Why have you not grown up?"

Arturia found herself in a very strange position. Her face was close to his and he was asking her to talk about her scabbard. She almost felt afraid to speak of it, as though it were a terrible thing and would make him dislike her. "It… it is my scabbard," she said softly, staring into Cuhculainn's red devil eyes.

Cuchulainn frowned more. "Scabbard? The thing you used to heal me with twice?"

Arturia nodded. "It keeps me from aging. With it, I'm practically immortal."

Cuchulainn's eyebrows shot up and he let go of her, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Oh? Then, you don't really need an heir that quickly, do you?" He laughed and scratched his cheek. "No wonder you're not in a big rush."

Arturia wasn't certain how she should take his words. Was he making fun of her? She frowned faintly as she watched him stroke his clean shaven chin. Most men grew beards when they grew to be seventeen or eighteen. Why did Cuchulainn prefer to keep his face free of hair? She had her knights shave often, but Cuchulainn wasn't held to such a ruling.

"Cu?" Arturia felt the same chill come over her heart when she heard Emer's voice that she felt when she first saw the woman so many years ago.

"I thank you for your concern, Lord Cuchulainn, but I will marry when I feel I am ready. In the mean time, I will continue to rule as I have been." Then, Arturia backed away and hurried to find a good place to retreat to.

Cuchulainn watched the woman that had fascinated him so since he had first heard of her walk away from him for the umpteenth time. When would he have a chance to be alone with her? Would he ever have a chance? Did he even want one? When he remembered the rumors told of her, he could only think of her as a true monster. When he saw her, he could only remember the woman who had pleaded with him so dearly for his aid in saving all the land from a fate worse than anything ever in their history.

Emer walked over to him and put a hand on his arm. "Did I interrupt a conversation?"

Cuchulainn kissed his wife on her cheek gently and smiled faintly. "No, but she certainly ran off quick enough."

Emer looked after the retreating form of Arturia and shivered. "She makes me uneasy, Cuchulainn. Be careful with her. I don't think she's stable in her head."

Cuchulainn nodded. "Same, something about the rumors I've heard has to be true, but I don't want to believe it, for she is a good woman."

Emer watched Cuchulainn for a moment and looked away. "Because you've always been in love with her?"

Cuchulainn looked to his wife in surprise. True, he had been fascinated by the little queen, but he wasn't certain if he was in love with her. "As per usual, Emer, when I'm with you, I only see you," he said gently and picked her up against him, kissing her. He grinned at her as she pulled away and blushed. "And I see a wife that needs a thurough loving!" He laughed as she squealed when he flopped her over his shoulder like a sack of flour and ran off to the castle.

"Cuchulainn! Put me down! This is undignified! Ah!"

"Wait 'till you get to the bedroom, Emer!" he laughed. She squealed again and thumped his back as they disappeared into the castle.

As they left, a black clad figure emerged from the shadows and watched them as they went up the stairs. Then, he disappeared into the shadows once more.

* * *

The guests arrived soon after, getting to their rooms and getting ready for the coronation and the ceremony. When all had arrived, Cuchulainn came down for the coronation and let the celebration begin after they crowned him king. The knights from Camelot danced with various ladies from Ireland, the Irish lords conversing with each other over various politics. Cuchulainn was forced to listen to a little of this, but barely paid attention. He was more concerned with a black clad woman across the hall from him. The lace under-gown she wore was very distracting as it still allowed him a good view of her chest and stomach while covering it up.

He moved away from the Irish lords and went over to her, bowing gallantly toward her. "May I have this dance?" he said, winking at her.

Arturia looked up at Cuchulainn and took his hand. He led her to the dance floor and began dancing with her beside her knights and some of the ladies. "You don't socialize well, do you?" he asked, chuckling.

"No," she said.

Cuchulainn joined hands with her and pulled her closer as he leaned over her slightly. "Why are you being so cold with me? I don't think I've done anything to warrant it," he said.

Arturia watched him for a moment and moved away from him. She had been enjoying the dance, but she simply couldn't get near Cuchulainn. "You are married, lord Cuchulainn." Then, she walked into the crowd and disappeared. How, he didn't figure out, but she had fully managed to disappear into the crowd as if she were magic.

He wandered after her for a moment before he came to the kitchen door. No one was even paying attention. They were all enjoying themselves and dealing with their own problems and the like. He smiled faintly. At least they could enjoy themselves. He, meanwhile, had to deal with his own battles.

Hands came around him and covered his mouth. He hit and slapped at the strong arms that held him captive until the strange potion covered cloth over his mouth made him feel sleepy. He groaned as his eyes rolled back into his head and sagged against his attacker. His attacker then quickly dragged the new Irish king away and disappeared with him.

No one noticed that the main reason for the occasion had disappeared. They continued their merry making until Emer began asking where her king had gone off to. They searched the castle for him, but could not find him. They went out of the castle and into the village to find him and even searched the homes of some women for him. None could find him. It was as though he had simply ceased to exist.

Emer, worried, wanted to send men outside of Ulster to look for her husband, but decided to wait to see if he would come back. She knew he didn't like being at the party and knew he simply wanted to be unseen. Might he have gone for a while to be himself once more rather than the new king of Ireland as he knew he was now?

When the guests left for their homes, she sent them off with food and drink. She sent off the men from Camelot with a fond farewell and did her best to be friendly towards their queen. She knew of her husband's affection toward the little queen, but felt a strange chill come over her whenever she gazed at the little woman. It was as though someone were wishing her death.

When all had left Ulster, Emer went and did the job of her husband, Cuchulainn, for him while he was away, hoping he had gone off to be Cuchulainn and live wild and free as he was meant to be instead of imprisoned like a caged beast as the position would force him to be.

* * *

A black clad form rode into Camelot. The guards recognized him as the Queen's servant. He had a large cloth back draped over the back of his horse and had a large blanket draped over the bag to keep whatever was inside it warm.

He rode up to the castle slowly and dismounted at the stables. He picked up the long bag and put it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before trudging up the steps into the castle and then up to his queen's quarters. There, he deposited the bag and pulled the tie. A blue haired man that was slightly older than him by maybe a couple of years fell from the back. He was still drugged and Emiya planned to keep him that way until his mistress arrived. Then, he shackled him up to the wall near the fire and left him.


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

_**A/N: and so it begins… the very reason I came up with this alternate universe. I had decided to bring in this idea into an rp with my friend Amanda and fleshed it out on the go. As I did so, I wanted to see how it would come about if I actually wrote it all down, because the sheer amount of history involved makes me scream "I WANT TO SEE IT!"**_

_**I'm really into Fable now and spent all of today just trying to figure out a way to get Thunder's helmet as a trophy and get rid of Lady Grey, who's a bitch and a half. Oh oh oh and you don't even get the satisfaction of punching her on the nose to get her to behave once you wed the bitch. Oh no, you have to pay something to the point of 500g just to get the guards off your back and she goes right back to being "You're not worthy of me at all." Whatever, bitch. Don't be talkin' smack like that to yo' husband unless you can back yo'sef up!**_

_**achem**_

_**And now for your regularly scheduled chapter.**_

_**Chapter Twenty-Nine**_

Weeks went by and there was no sign of Cuchulainn. Emer began to fear the worst when she received a message from one of the villagers that they thought they might have seen him coming home. Her patience with her wayward husband always did give her a good ending to her days when it came to his constantly disappearing. Hopefully, the villager had seen aright and not just mistaken a common man for her dear husband.

She had already sent out as many of her soldiers as she could to find her husband, but in the end, they had all failed. She inquired as to the guests at the party and they told her none of them were amiss. She remembered Arturia and recalled the horrible chill she received from her when she had come near and thought maybe the woman had taken her husband for herself. Then, she remembered that her husband was Ireland's Child of Light. He himself had claimed that when Sgatha had tried to drug him to stay asleep while she fought her sister Aife that he had only slept for an hour for his will was far too strong for normal potions.

With that, Emer could only hope that Cuchulainn would find his way home and thwart whatever it was that was holding him from her side. She knew he was afraid of being king, but also knew he was willing to take the job to help his people. If anything, it gave him an edge against the one woman he hated more than anything, Maeve of Connacht.

* * *

The queen's contingent came into Camelot some time after leaving. They had come in a lot sooner than anticipated and Arturia explained it was because a strange mishap occurred in Ireland involving their king suddenly disappearing. Agravaine, who had been left in charge with Gaheris, spoke of Emiya walking in with a large sack that looked vaguely human like.

"Emiya was bringing back someone I wished to interrogate," she said as she pulled off her gloves. Agravaine held a strange expression, as though he expected her to say something else. "Were you expecting me to say something, Sir Agravaine?"

He coughed and looked away. "No, apologies, my queen."

Arturia walked past him to the kitchen and ordered a meal for herself and Emiya and the usual fare for her "guest". She went to the stair well and ran right into Merlin's chest. For a man who looked to be about forty or fifty, he certainly was hard enough that it somewhat hurt to run into him. He also didn't look very pleased to see her.

"I heard from some people coming through that the lord Cuchulainn has disappeared while you were staying in Ireland. Also, that your 'pet' came back with a present," he said.

Arturia simply gazed up at her teacher with her usual doll like mask. "And? Emiya did as he was told, to bring me the one I wished to interrogate, but the two have no correlation with one another."

Merlin frowned and nodded, walking past her. "What was his offense?"

"No offense. He is being kept well fed and warm, but shackled nearby so I won't lose him so readily. He has information I wish to know. If he doesn't, I will release him and given him food and drink and a horse to ride home with as well as a guard to make sure he makes it home." Arturia looked back at Merlin and glared defiantly at him. "I am not as cruel as some would have me sound to be, Merlin." Then, she walked up the stairs.

Merlin frowned as he watched her go and felt uneasy. Something in his bones told him she was not telling the truth, at least not all of it. She was good at that, he recalled. He remembered that she could tell a half lie and make it sound like the whole thing was the truth, however, she hardly ever needed to do it, for she always felt dirty for lying. Telling the truth was far easier for her and she really didn't care who the truth hurt so long as it was told. Tact was also something he had trouble teaching her.

Emiya looked up when his mistress walked in. He stood and bowed to her before walking over to her and taking her cloak and gloves. "My queen, you had a safe journey without me?"

"Yes, I did, Emiya. Thank you for your concern. Gawain and Bedivere are good knights and have always taken good care of me when you could not."

Emiya watched his queen as she walked toward her bedchamber. She was right; he did trust Bedivere and Gawain to care for his queen more than he did even himself. She opened the door and peered in slowly. "He has been well cared for, I trust? The maidservants have not been allowed to come in here to make things tidy, correct?"

"Yes, my queen. However, you will need to talk to Merlin about his supply of sleeping potion. I'm afraid I had trouble keeping him asleep while on the journey and had to resort to some herbal remedies that I remembered from his teachings. He was sick for a short period of time there, but I think I managed to flush the drugs from his body well enough. I could only keep him asleep for an hour at a time, I'm afraid," said Emiya softly.

Arturia looked to Emiya and nodded. "Thank you, Emiya. You did more than you had to and I am grateful for it."

Emiya smiled faintly toward her and watched her disappear into the bedchamber. When she closed the door, he silently threw a pillow at the wall in anger. He truly despised the man she chose for herself and now she was forcing him to take care of him while she was coming home. He could only hope that she would arrive soon and now she was here. Now, she could deal with the man herself and he would be alone without her requesting his services while she had this new toy to play with.

Emiya calmed himself after a moment and sat down on his pallet, looking at the wound that he had to sew up himself from his victim stabbing him with a knife when the man had woken up the first time and tried to get away. Emiya had had a great deal of trouble with the man since he took him and had an even worse time trying to transport him from the green, warm, lands of Ireland to the colder climates of Briton. The chill seemed to wake him up faster than the warmer weather and Emiya had to sacrifice his blanket to keep the bastard warm while they rode so he wouldn't wake up so quickly.

With that, Emiya resigned himself to simply lying back on his pallet and getting some well deserved rest, though it could hardly be called rest when he tended to sleep very lightly.

* * *

Arturia gazed down at her captive. He was covered in a warm blanket and fur to keep him warm while he was unable to cover himself. His blue hair was still bound in its usual ponytail and his face was a clean. She could only assume that Emiya had cleaned him regularly so he would be fresh for Arturia when she arrived. The duties her dear little servant did for her sake were almost uncountable. She often wondered what drove him to do the things she asked of him, but always refrained, for she feared his answers.

She heard her captive king groan and move his head from one shoulder to the other and yawn. She kneeled down in front of him and gazed at the perfection that was his face. His face was ageless, eternally youthful. His nose was straight and his cheeks and jaw were fine. His eyes were fringed with dark blue lashes that fluttered against his pale cheeks as he slowly woke up.

When his eyes did open, he gazed up at her blearily. She watched as he tried to lean up to look at her closer and then leaned back with a scowl on his face as he recognized her. "You. I should have known you were the sole hand in this," said Cuchulainn with a growl.

"My servant does what I ask and only what I ask of him," said Arturia softly as she gazed at him. She reached up and touched his face gently, checking him for any damage. He would not be the sort to take being manhandled lightly from a man. Arturia could smell the old blood on Emiya's discarded bandages. He had not had the best time dealing with her captive. She would have to treat him to something extra special for his services later.

Cuchulainn attempted to jerk his face away from Arturia's hand as she stroked his skin. Something about the way she handled him made his body heat. The feeling of her soft, small hands stroking his skin made him think thoughts he was best to leave behind while he was still her prisoner. He was certain Emer was in a real tizzy right then wondering where he had gone off to.

Arturia finally pulled her hands from Cuchulainn's face and walked over to her bed. "It seems Emiya has taken special care of you, as I requested. Would you like something to eat?"

Cuchulainn glared at her angrily and jerked at the chains. "You can't keep me held down forever, woman. Your chains aren't strong enough to hold the likes o' me."

Arturia watched him for a moment. "You forget, Cuchulainn… you are in Camelot now. I have a wizard I keep on hand and another in the form of my servant Emiya. He has already requested special chains for my room should I have to hold someone who was a master at escaping. Merlin had special chains forged for me and placed spells on them to keep my prisoners and captives captive until I released them. I have not put them into use until now, however, but it seems they have held you well enough already."

Cuchulainn continued to glower at Arturia, though he started to sweat slightly. She had plotted his kidnapping out this far. She had covered every possibility of escape or every possible need he might have. She did it in advance and carried it out with aplomb. He would also have to plot his own escape in advance to make himself be able to get out of her clutches and get back home.

"Why have you taken me as your prisoner?" he asked.

"You are my captive, not my prisoner. You have done no wrong toward me or Camelot, therefore you are simply being held here without your permission," she said. He would have laughed at the way she could be so matter of fact about things like this and still keep a straight face.

"All right then, why am I your captive?"

Arturia tapped her lip for a moment, thinking about her answer carefully. Even in the short term, she thought out what she was going to do or say! "Because I wish to keep you," she said.

Cuchulainn gazed at Arturia through his lashes, eyeing her suspiciously. "You wish to keep me here for yourself?"

Arturia watched him for a moment and stood. "I will get you your dinner."

"Probably tastes like shit, given the hospitality," said Cuchulainn as he pulled himself up more against the wall he was forced to stay chained to.

Arturia stopped, but did not look at him. "I will make certain you are well fed and kept warm. You are my captive and I do not wish to have you very uncomfortable." Then, she walked out swiftly.

Cuchulainn frowned. If she did not want to have him solely for herself as a captive sex slave, what was it she wanted from him? He closed his eyes and remembered the contours of her body. It was a small body, a young woman's body, but not an adult body. Even with that body, she was still very pretty and he could imagine a man like Emiya servicing her sexual needs when she needed them. She probably wanted a change of pace from Emiya or whoever she did that with while she looked for a man to be her husband. He certainly couldn't imagine any other reason to have kidnapped him unless it was to secretly sample the pleasures of bedding the famous Hound of Ulster.

Arturia came back a little while later with two trays of food. Apparently, the cook had thought she had wanted usual prisoner fare for her captive, so one tray was filled only with basic foods like a bowl of stew, though good, very plain, some greens and bread and finally a cup of water. The other tray had fine lamb and greens and bread, dessert and a mug of hot, spiced wine to warm her up. She sighed as she gazed at it. Emiya had similar fare to that of Arturia, so he was eating well on his pallet, still keeping watched in the sitting room.

Cuchulainn shifted when he smelled food and looked up at Arturia as she walked in. He saw the two trays and raised an eyebrow. "You have not eaten yet?"

"No, I have not. We have been riding hard from Ireland and I have not been able to eat much while we have been moving so fast," she said. She kneeled down and placed the tray with the spiced wine and lamb in front of him and set the simpler one down so she could lean over him and lengthened the chains so he might be able to eat. He smelled her perfume as she leaned close to him and felt the warmth of her pale skin. If he was to be used as her sex slave, he wouldn't mind it so much, but dearly wished she simply asked him to come with her instead of kidnapping him.

He gazed at her through his lashes, her face still close to his and eyed her for a moment. "If you wanted me for your own pleasure, you could have asked, little queen. I know you must need secrecy for this desire of yours."

Arturia looked genuinely confused as she looked at him and moved away. He blinked in surprise and frowned faintly. Had he been wrong? If he was wrong, then, why was she keeping him chained up?

She picked up the simpler tray and took it with her to her desk where she sat. Cuchulainn looked at the tray in front of him, smelled the lamb and looked to her back. She had taken the simple fare to the fancy, so that he would have a decent meal rather than a prisoner's fare. She had taken the simple fare for herself so he could be comfortable.

"If we are going to eat in this room together, I would prefer you eat in front of me so I might share of your meal and you of mine," he said, eyeing Arturia's back for a moment. "Come here so we can eat together, little queen."

Arturia looked over her shoulder at Cuchulainn, her cheeks flushed. She stood with her tray and walked over after a moment of coaxing from his end and sat down on the floor in front of him. "That stew looked nice, is there enough for both of us to eat?"

"Why? It is simple stew, nothing special," she said.

Cuchulainn grunted and leaned his head back against the wall behind him. "I'm a soldier first and foremost, queen of Briton. I'm used to pretty terrible food for dinner." She didn't even crack a smile, she simply nodded and placed her tray next to his and ate from both. He wondered what it took to make that mask of hers crack for a moment more before deciding food was more important to consider.

They ate in silence. Cuchulainn was silent to watch Arturia as Arturia simply ate as she normally would eat. Cuchulainn found the little queen odd, but enjoyable, as he normally would be talking avidly or listening to people talk avidly around him. She ate very primly and sat very stiffly on the floor, not that he could blame her. The carpet underneath them was hardly any cushion despite the nice design on it.

When they were done, Arturia picked up the trays and walked out. Cuchulainn sat back and looked around, taking in his surroundings. The room was fairly large with nice wall hangings and modest decoration. The rug was foreign and soft with a pleasant design on it. The bed was large with black sheets and black blankets and sheer black curtains. What was it about black that this woman loved so much? It was all she wore and all she seemed to love in her room!

After a while, he fell asleep, for once comfortable, though unable to move from his chains. He pulled the blanket he had on him and the furs closer to him before he let himself fall asleep once more.

* * *

Cuchulainn woke slowly. He felt hands untying his shirt, pulling his kilt up his legs and touching him. He didn't stir at first. He simply let whoever was touching him continue until he smelled the familiar perfume of the little queen. He felt her hands on his chest, stroking his flesh across his chest and over his muscled stomach. He felt her fingers dance over his face gently, take his ponytail out and run through his hair. He groaned when he felt her touch his cock, stroking it to life carefully.

Her moves were very bold and decisive. She left little doubt in his mind what she wanted from him. Was she shy enough that she simply didn't want to admit that she wanted him as her sex partner until she got the urge out of her system? It wasn't as though he had done any better.

"Little queen," he muttered, his breath hot against her face. He felt her hesitate slightly, a move he was not accustomed to seeing come from her. "Little queen?"

He opened his eyes slowly and gazed at her through his lashes. She was still stroking him very slowly, causing shivers to run through his body. He leaned forward to catch her mouth and she moved back, shoving him back. He blinked in confusion at her. "What?"

He finally got a good look at her now. She was completely naked, her little body pale in the firelight. Her nipples stood on end from the chill and her cheeks were flushed faintly. And for once, since the night she had come to heal him, her hair was down around her shoulders, free of the usual bun and braid she put it in. He frowned more when he didn't know why she was being so coy with him. It was quite obvious what she was wanting from him, so why did she not let him loose so he could pleasure her?

She looked down at his manhood and continued stroking it as though she were fascinated. Surely she had seen and touched one before now! "Little queen, if you keep that up, you'll torment me," he said through his gritted teeth. He leaned his head back and groaned loudly when she gripped his cock and gave it a few good pumps. "Damn it, Arturia, what are you playing at?!" he snapped.

She looked to him and then to his hips and looked to his face again. She looked very uncertain. He didn't know what was wrong with her, she clearly wanted to have sex, so why was she tormenting him so and hesitating?

He realized soon that she was close enough to him to kiss. He shot forward suddenly and caught her mouth forcefully, prying it open with a growl as he shoved his tongue into her hot mouth. She whimpered into his mouth like a woman, groaning when he delved further and nipped at her lower lip when he pulled away slowly. "Let my hands free," he murmured against her lips, his heart pounding hard in his chest. "Let my hands free, little queen. I want to pleasure you the way you want."

She shoved him back against the wall again, making him his hit head on the rock. He grunted and looked at her as she crawled onto his lap and straddled it slowly. His manhood was stiff by now and ready, the head prodding her as she maneuvered herself on his lap. He attempted to lean forward again, but she shoved him back. He growled and watched her as she shifted slowly on him and took his cock in her hand.

She was wet and hot for how cold it was in the room. Had she prepared herself before hand or had he this affect on her? He watched her carefully, waiting to see what she did, for she was doing many things that confused him greatly. She carefully pushed her him into her body, but stopped as though she were in some sort of discomfort. Her wince was slight, but very noticeable and he felt a barrier that was partially broken as she prodded herself with his penis.

The woman was a virgin still! She expected to try to do this herself with no help from him?! Clearly this woman needed guidance, but he wasn't certain he wanted to give it. She was being very adamant about keeping him at a distance and it confused him greatly. Why did she not at least slacken the chains, or indeed, take off the chains, so he might better touch her?

All her fidgeting was making him very frustrated. She was tight around the head of his cock and he wanted more feeling, but she just kept moving herself on him as though that was as far as he could go inside her. He finally snarled in his frustration and wiggled his hips in an attempt to find a decent angle. She stopped and stared at him, gold eyes wide in surprise. When he found the angle he wanted, he thrust his hips up in the strongest move he could make and felt the barrier break and felt the rest of her envelope him.

Her eyes widened and she trembled terribly from the pain he had caused her. She did not cry or make any noise. She simply panted heavily and gripped his shirt with quivering hands. He felt her breasts brush against him and bucked his hips to get her attention, his back arching to feel her body press against his. She finally let out a yelp and leaned on him fully, panting.

He cooed softly into her ear, nipping the lobe as well as he could before darting his tongue out and running it over her ear. He felt her relax slowly, whimpering as she ran her hands over his chest. He thrust up into her slowly, feeling her rock against him timidly as he got her attention.

His breath came out in loud grunts as he watched her eyes slide closed and moan low from her throat. She was enjoying herself now, that much could be seen. He leaned forward and ran his tongue over her throat before she shoved him back once more and thrust herself on him in hard, quick, moves that caused him to cry out loudly.

His heart pounded hard in his chest, his body going on instinct and drive alone. He watched her grit her teeth and felt the bite of her nails in his chest as she braced herself on him and continued to drive them both upward. The rapid pulse of her around his cock, the heat and the wetness slicking him down, it was all maddening!

She leaned forward against him again and he thrust himself up into her with fast movements, feeling her clench him tightly. She was close, so very close. If only his hands could be free so he could touch her, but the damned chains were ever present and not slack at all! Why would she deliberately do this to him and her both when it was clear to anyone that it simply made things far too difficult?!

Her cry of pleasure resounded through the room, her body jerking slightly against him as he continued to thrust into her. She continued to gasp and claw at him until he let out a mighty yell and exploded inside her. He trembled for a few moments afterward before leaning over her and kissing her gently over her face. "Arturia," he murmured softly.

Arturia continued to hold onto him before she slid him out of her and stood up on shaking legs and walked over to her bed and lay down. She wasn't even going to wash between her legs? He looked down and saw the evidence of her virginity, the blood dark in the half light. He groaned and leaned his head back against the wall behind him before using his feet to pull the blanket back over his body and sleeping. Before he fell asleep, he wondered what Emer might be doing then, wondered if she was taking being queen well.


	31. Chapter Thirty

_**A/N:: is still laughing at the comments she has received.:: XD don't mind me, just keep reading! I'll be fine… when I stop laughing! XD**_

_**Chapter Thirty**_

"Oi… OI! Lapdog!"

Emiya heard the Irish king yelling at him. He'd been hearing him try to get his attention now for the past couple of minutes.

"LAPDOG! Get in here or I start shouting even LOUDER!"

Emiya stood up and walked to his queen's bedchamber door. He opened it slowly and peered in. Cuchulainn was still chained to the wall and angrily glaring at Emiya. "What took you so long, eh? Aren't you supposed to check up on your queen?"

Emiya eyed Cuchulainn with disgust and went over to Arturia. As much as he despised the man, he had done aright in getting his attention. Arturia liked to sleep, but it was almost eleven o'clock. He nudged her and she grumbled. He pulled her covers off her slowly to see if the chill would wake her. She was, as usual, naked under her blankets and sheets; however, he noticed a stain on her leg. He moved the covers more and saw a bit of blood and something else coming from between her legs. It wasn't much blood, but it was enough to cause a bit of concern for him. However, he also remembered the noises coming from the room during the night. He sighed and covered her and walked over to a wash basin and warmed the water with a small spell. He wasn't a great wizard when it came to spells, but he could make potions decently enough. His specialty was image magic and that was what he generally focused on.

Cuchulainn watched him walked over to Arturia's bed and gently pull the covers back again. She was fast asleep until the cold hit her again. She groaned and curled up, hugging her tummy. "Mmmmm hurts," she mumbled. She mumbled again as Emiya gently opened her legs and began washing her carefully. "Emiya?"

"Yes, my queen. You seem unwell so I'm giving you a small wash," he said softly, not looking at her.

Arturia didn't budge anymore while he washed her down. When he was done, he covered her with the sheets again and poured out the water out the window. She shivered and curled up again as he picked up the chamberpot and tossed the contents out the window as well. He looked over to Cuchulainn for a moment. "Do you need to use the chamberpot?"

"Aye, badly, but I wanted you to make sure she was allright first," said Cuchulainn, shifting uncomfortably. "Since I doubt you'll actually let me go, at least slacken the chains, for pity's sake. I can't reach my cock with my hands locked up like this and I doubt you'll want to do this yourself."

Emiya grunted and went over to Cuchulainn. He slackened the chains and put the chamberpot next to him before leaving the room. "Just set it aside and I'll empty it when I come back with breakfast," said Emiya softly.

Cuchulainn found Emiya very unnerving. He had never seen a man so completely devoted to a woman to the point of being almost seen as a little pet pooch that women seemed to be fond of. What's more, Emiya clearly despised him greatly. When he was done, he lay down on the carpet and stretched, doing sit ups and push ups as well. With the chains slackened, he could almost stand, but he was still only able to get onto his knees or into a crouch.

He looked over to the bed and watched Arturia sleep. From the look of how she acted when Emiya washed her down, she looked as though she were in pain or at least confused about her discomfort. Her eyes opened a little and looked at him.

"Why did you do that?" said Cuchulainn as he went back to sitting against his wall. "Why did you do what you did last night?"

Arturia didn't speak. She simply stared at him through her pale gold hair. Cuchulainn frowned and pulled the blanket up around him. "Why did you prevent me from touching you? Why did you keep shoving me away when I wanted to pleasure you as you **seemed** to want?"

Arturia once more remained silent. Cuchulainn was getting frustrated. What madness had caused this woman he had revered to act so strangely?!

"Is it not what men like to boast about? To be given a woman's virginity is a great gift and whatnot?" she said softly.

"You didn't so much as give it to me as you did force me to take it with a sword to my gullet." Cuchulainn watched her through his lashes as she turned away and curled up on her side. "Was it pleasant?"

He smirked faintly when he saw the ear he could see turn pink. "I will not speak of such things," she said hurriedly.

"We are alone, little queen, and I am you 'captive'. What else do I have to do aside from speak about what has transpired between you and I?" Cuchulainn smirked deviously when Arturia sat up suddenly. Her nipples stood on end once more in the chilled air, drawing his attention to them without meaning to. "You caught and chained the great hound of Ulster, little queen, because you wanted to have your urges off on me, correct?"

Arturia's expression went back into the mask that she always wore as she gazed at him silently. Something was amiss in her attitude. It was as though what he had said had made her angry. "If you think something so little…." She shook her head and got out of bed slowly, rubbing her tummy. "I hurt."

"Emer hurt there as well when I took her maidenhead. She said it was as though I had ripped something inside her to shreds, but that afterward felt good enough. It hadn't been the best of first nights, but she doesn't hurt anymore when I take her in bed," he said softly. He leaned forward and picked up the metal ring he used to keep his hair back and started pulling his hair up into a ponytail. "She said she hurt for a few days afterward and attempted to keep me away, but I'm hard to keep away. I never pushed myself into her body again until she asked me to. I didn't like the pained look on her face when I took her the first time and didn't want her to feel pain when I did it again, but that didn't mean I couldn't pleasure her in other ways until she felt up to it again." He grinned roguishly at Arturia as he leaned back against his wall again and got comfortable.

"She would lay down on her stomach and just rest like that for a while when she felt bad there. I'd suggest the same of you."

Arturia looked even colder than she usually did. He really had angered her! What had he said that could possibly anger her when he was simply telling her how to make herself comfortable?!

"Thank you for your advice, Cuchulainn," she said softly. He blinked at her in surprise. "I will try that. Resting feels better than moving," she said.

She lay down on her stomach and continued to watch him, the covers once more over her naked body. How he wanted to be in the bed, which he was certain was far warmer than the stone he leaned against. Anything would be better than laying on the blasted rock underneath him!

"It is comfortable," she said.

Cuchulainn looked over and smiled faintly. "Ahh, good, I thought it might help. You might want to stay like that for a while and eat something," he said, grinning at her.

It was a pleasant morning after that. Emiya came in with breakfast and emptied the chamberpot that Cuchulainn used before leaving to the sitting room where his pallet sat. Cuchulainn continued to talk, mostly about growing up and hearing about her as a boy in the boy corps before going to the warrior witch Sgatha and learning from her. He spoke of Aife and his short time with her, the deal he had made and whatnot. He had not seen the boy yet, for he was certain he wasn't of age yet to leave. Arturia remained silent through his tales and remained so after he finished talking.

It was a pleasant feeling to be able to talk so much, but it unnerved him how she never said a word to him about herself. He only knew so much and that she kept herself so completely cut off made him feel very odd feelings toward her. He didn't like a woman keeping herself so separated from him when he was opening himself up to her.

When Emiya came in and collected the trays, he asked if she liked music. Maybe singing a song to her would make her feel like opening up. "What sort of songs do you like? Adventure ones? Tales? Or maybe the kind from the old days when music was far more prevalent among humans?" he said.

Arturia simply watched him from her bed as she lay on her stomach. He leaned back and thought a moment. When he was bored, he tended to either write very cheesy poetry or look up old songs. He had heard many folk songs from one of his foster fathers when he was a boy and remembered them even now.

_"Son of the dragon, a knight of the slaughter,_

_His wisdom his unshaven youth will belie,_

_Will wake from her slumber the lake's only daughter,  
_

_to answer a calling she cannot deny!"_

_"The kingsword will stand in its scabbard of granite,_

_The quicksilver forged in the pools of the sky,_

_A rumor explained by the one who began it,_

_A boy's hand will grasp it, a man's raise it high!"_

Arturia looked very interested now and had pulled her blanket around her and walked over to sit in front of him like a child would to his father. He remembered the song from the days when he was a child. His foster father would sing it as he would attempt to restring his harp.

_"Brought by a queen for the hand of the chosen,_

_From fish scale and currents and winter's reply,  
_

_Brought from the deep by a prophet who knows_

_In the arms of the water again it will lie."_

"Where have you heard this tale?"

Cuchulainn was taken out of his reverie by Arturia's voice interrupting him. He looked down at her and smiled faintly. She really was very cute sometimes. "I heard it when I was a child. I had at least four or five foster fathers, but one was a poet and liked to keep the old traditions alive. He would sing such old tales to me. He said that one was alive before the Great War."

Arturia gazed at him for a moment and then moved toward him. Cuchulainn thought she wasn't prepared for whatever she had in mind and winced away from her for a moment before he realized that she had maneuvered to reach his mouth. There, she placed a gentle kiss upon his lips. When she pulled away, Cuchulainn simply stared at her in curiosity.

When she stood up, he watched her walk away and dressed herself. She pulled a lace shift on that hardly left anything to the imagination, though it wasn't meant to cover anything. He watched her as she closed the front of the shift and saw the small triangle of hair between her legs through the shift and watched her pull her stockings on carefully, tying them off with black ribbon garters. She pulled on a black dress with red lines on it over the lace shift and tied the bodice in front before pulling a third piece on over her head that covered her bare shoulders and neck.

"I always did enjoy watching women dress. There's something very pretty in the way women clothe themselves," he said softly, knowing full well she was listening. He grinned when he saw her cheeks darken slightly before she turned around swiftly and pulled on a pair of boots.

When she was dressed, Emiya walked in and dressed her hair carefully. When she left, Emiya walked over toward him and crouched down. Cuchulainn eyed him carefully, not liking the look of him. "Yes?" he asked.

"I am her servant, not yours. Remember that, hound," said Emiya, glaring coldly at him. With a sudden jerk, Cuchulainn's chains were once more tightened back to an almost painful level. Cuchulainn gritted his teeth and glared angrily at Emiya as he watched him forge a sword from nothing in his hand and point it toward his face.

"You hurt me, mutt, and your queen will be very very displeased with you," growled Cuchulainn.

Emiya made the sword disappear and stood up, tossing the blanket on him. He snorted and moved away. "Pathetic little dogs should not act so bravely toward a meaner one than them, Cuchulainn of Ulster," said Emiya, "I'm not what I appear to be and never have been."

Cuchulainn snorted derisively before leaning his head back against the wall behind him. He watched as Emiya smirked at him and waved before walking out of the room and closing the door shut. Cuchulainn's hands and feet were bound once more in a most uncomfortable position and it was because that slave was jealous of Cuchulainn having the queen's attention! When he decided he could not move any further than he had, he went back to reciting old poetry and thinking. When he stopped thinking, he went to sleep and dreamed until he was woken up to eat and then he was allowed to move once more.

* * *

Emer sent a note along to Camelot. She needed to know if any of the knights had seen Cuchulainn in Camelot. Her instincts told her that her husband was there, but her heart said that it was the queen that held him.

However, she still refrained from trying to send anyone over aside from messengers. Too many years of waiting for Cuchulainn to come back to her had taught her a great deal of patience.

* * *

Once again, Cuchulainn woke to Arturia touching him in the night. This time, however, he couldn't even move his head forward. He was fully restrained, a collar around his neck pulled back by a leash that she held in her hand and connected somewhere behind his head to a ring. Once more, she brought him to full attention, but did not attempt to pleasure herself on his lap like he had though she would do. This time, she pleasured him!

She seemed to have a fascination with touching his cock and seemed to like the way it felt, for she liked to touch it. He gritted his teeth when she licked the head and pushed it past her lips.

He grunted and jerked on his chains. She snapped a look up at him and jerked the leash she had on him, forcing his head back into the wall. "Woman! What in whatever god's name that you people believe in are you doing to me?!"

"This is how men liked to be pleasured, correct?" she said. She didn't even blink or look embarrassed, though he did note a faint blush in her cheeks.

Cuchulainn was dumbfounded. She had been a virgin when she forced herself on him, but she was attempting something most virgins cringed at. "Why, then, are you doing this?"

"Because I heard my men say they liked it and thought you would like it," she said. "Because… it draws my attention. It…." She turned bright pink as she spoke and looked away. "It is pretty to me for some reason."

Cuchulainn's eyebrows shot up. "Pretty?"

Arturia nodded and looked to him. "I have only seen one and it looked pretty to me too," she said.

Well, one thing was for certain, the woman liked men. He had heard that she had ripped off the tallywhacker of a man who she had killed for treason and impaled it on a pike beneath the head of the man and stuck it out for the other traitors to see. By that thought, he would have guessed she hated men.

"Why do you think it's… pretty?" He felt strange speaking about his manhood like this and was getting very uncomfortable with it. Especially the word she used to describe it!

"I don't know. It has a … beauty to it," she said softly as she gazed at his cock and stroked it with her fingers idly. He shivered and groaned. "It is what God gave to men to pleasure women so that man and woman could be one and create a child. It is a part of the man and what makes him a man."

"I'm your sex partner until you get tired of me, right? So why are you wanting to pleasure me when it's my job to pleasure you?" Cuchulainn was getting a bit testy with the way the conversation was heading and she kept stroking him while she was talking which caused him even more grief than he needed!

She jerked the chain and forced his head into the wall behind him once again. He grunted in pain and glared down at her. "That hurts."

Her face was a doll's face, unfeeling and showing nothing of what she thought. "Then, stop talking and don't move."

For once, Cuchulainn was uncertain as to whether he liked what this woman did to him. It was as though she were trying to make him into a pet like that lapdog of hers! However, his thoughts disappeared when she started licking his cock once more. She took it into her mouth and he groaned loudly, hitting his head against the wall behind him hard enough to make his head hurt again. He bucked his hips as well as he could, panting hard as his heart beat raced. His mind was a mess as all he could do was focus on her mouth enveloping his manhood. He shouted when he shot his seed into her mouth. She coughed and jerked on his leash in irritation.

"OI! It's your own fault, so don't go blaming me.. guh… for the mess you've got," snarled Cuchulainn as he panted heavily. He watched her spit his seed out into her hand and then wipe her hand off with a black handkerchief. He leaned his head back against the wall behind him and groaned as he stretched his body in any way he could. Despite his irritation toward Arturia, she had done a good job and he felt good enough. He had never truly liked it when a woman sucked on his cock, for he liked sex more as he got to watch how he pleasured a woman rather than her pleasuring him. However, he wasn't one to stop a woman from doing what she wanted when she wanted to do it. It was the control the woman had over him when she sucked him off that put him off on it. He preferred having the control, making the woman squeal and squirm with every charm he had and enjoyed himself immensely when she finally came.

He opened his eyes finally after a little while and gazed at her. She was undressing and taking off her stockings. There was something very sensual about watching her take them off, though they were fairly thick. The ones the ladies wore in Ireland were far more sheer and showed a little of their skin through them. These showed nothing. He didn't think they'd show anything even if they were a lighter color. They had to be made from wool or something just as thick to be so covering.

"Are you going to try my lap again?" he said, shifting a little. His arms and legs hurt a bit from the stiff positions they were forced into.

She lay down in her bed and pulled her covers up over her before she settled on her stomach. It was as good as her saying "Most definitely not" to him. He sighed and settled underneath the blanket she had pulled over him. For once, he would like to be able to have his way with her, for this was getting very irritating and frustrating!


	32. Chapter Thirty One

_**A/N:: is still laughing from the previous chapter:: pardon me, I'll be over here in my corner sniggering at dear Cu. **_

_**Cu: -w-;;**_

_**Chapter Thirty-One**_

Things continued on for several weeks this way, though she did not come to him every night. When she did come to him, he was restrained in ways he never wanted and never thought about being put in during sex. She would tug on his leash when she felt him misbehaving during the act, forcing his head back against the wall behind him with enough force to cause him a small headache. She would keep his hands and feet strapped down so he could do nothing but let her have her way on his lap.

She didn't attempt to take his manhood into her mouth except sparingly. This was because she seemed to have figured out that this caused him more grief than sex did. She did it once or twice after that night, but that was the end of it and it was purely out of her own enjoyment of watching him squirm.

Cuchulainn had lost count of how many days it had been since he had been forced to stay in Camelot castle as Arturia's captive. As the days wore on, he was allowed to move around naturally, though still chained. He was given a bath by Arturia, led to a bathtub not far off in her room that would be filled with hot water and he would have soap to wash himself with that smelled of mint. He did not mind, for it was a pleasant smell and did not bother him so much. He wondered, however, of what sort of perfume it was that she wore that seemed to announce her presence to him when she came near. It smelled of roses but of orchids as well as something musky. None of these naturally grew in the frigid climate, so he gathered she paid for the perfume at great expense from either Scotland or Ireland or America. He knew America exported a great deal, but it was far more expensive to eat and drink and use goods from America than it was to import from Ireland. However, he also knew of the taxes placed on goods going out of Ireland for the problem that Ireland wasn't big enough to feed all of Briton and Wales.

He leaned his head back against Arturia's shoulder and leaned into her neck as she scrubbed his chest gently with a cloth. He could smell the musky roses and orchids there. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"I like your smell. I've always liked the smell of you when you were near," he murmured near her ear.

Arturia flushed deeply and seemed to tremble slightly as he licked her ear. He smirked when she had grown stiff and stopped scrubbing him. It had been the first time in a long while that he had been able to show the least amount of freedom and he was going to take advantage of it!

"What's wrong, little queen? You tremble so against me for merely enjoying a little of the taste of your skin," he muttered softly in her ear, biting her earlobe gently.

A sharp slap and a shove caused him to hit the side of the tub. He blinked in surprise and rubbed his tender cheek before looking back at her angrily. His words died in his throat however when he saw how flushed she was. Her eyes were wide and scared; her hand trembled faintly as she looked at him. He had scared her with his advances! At least, he thought he might have scared her.

"Such a bold woman in so many areas is afraid of the advances of her own prisoner?" he said softly, smirking faintly at her.

"I am not afraid," she said finally, her face going back to the set doll mask that she always wore. "You are being difficult."

He leaned closer once again and sniffed at her. "Difficult is my general state of being, little queen. Even my wife would say so."

He dodged this time, for her fist was what she sent at his face. He moved back sharply to avoid being hit and held his shackled hands in front of him in defense. "Oi! Oi! I didn't do anything to you to warrant that!"

He watched as she picked up the cloth from the tub and beckoned him. "Be still and I will finish washing you."

He frowned and moved back over, staying silent so she wouldn't try to hit him again. He just couldn't figure out what would make her suddenly so very angry!

* * *

"What would you have of me, my queen?" asked Emiya softly, looking down at the ground as he kneeled before her.

Arturia moved around her desk and kneeled down to him, putting her lips to his ear. "I have a favor to ask of you, Emiya. Only you can make it work and make it look good."

Emiya shivered slightly and closed his eyes as she whispered into his ear. "What is it you wish of me?"

"I want you to kill someone and make it look like Connacht did it or raiders. If she has daughters or sons, they may live unless they get in the way, understand?" Emiya felt an arrow head get pushed into his palm. "Here is the evidence so your work can still vanish as it usually does."

"Who is it you wish to die, my queen?"

Arturia leaned closer again and murmured into his ear softly. "Queen Emer of Ireland."

* * *

During his time in Camelot castle, Cuchulainn had been privy to many things that went on in Arturia's bedchamber. He heard her talk in her sleep, but nothing that he had not heard before. Things like "I don't like that, so don't put it up" and "I'll sign it later, I'm hungry" were what he heard normally. He figured the stress of running a country had begun to get to her, but she seemed to keep herself from being too far gone well enough.

And when her menstruation period came, he watched Emiya clean her sheets and listened to her whimper and whine from the pain in her belly. He would see her curl up much like she had when she had just lost her maidenhead and cringe repeatedly from the cramping in her tummy. During that time, he recalled Emer and Aife and the other women he had been with in the past. For women like Aife and Emer, he had spent an incredibly long time with them and was able to see how women coped with such things early on. Most men cringed away from it or simply wouldn't acknowledge it. He, however, felt a bit bad for the ladies, for they always looked like they were in the most terrible discomfort. Even a strong woman like Aife tended to either turn into a complete raging monster or a sobbing little child. He had seen his nurse and mother even go through it and they explained to him why women went through it when he was but a small boy.

Emiya was always there to watch over his queen except when he was sent out, which only happened once after he had arrived. He came back later and gave his queen information, which he heard small amounts of and then resumed his daily duties of taking care of his little queen. However, he noticed that the man was not around once more sometime after the fiasco in the bath. He wondered briefly what new person was going to be interrogated and sighed. At least Arturia would let him walk around in his chains a bit so his muscles wouldn't be so cramped.

* * *

A messenger came in from Camelot. Emer hurriedly opened the message and read it. Someone had seen Cuchulainn, her husband, in Camelot. He was chained inside the castle and was being interrogated repeatedly by the queen. Emer dropped the message onto her table and rubbed her face. How was she to get her husband back from the clutches of a woman who likely was armed to the teeth and ready to rip her throat out at a moment's notice?

She looked up at the messenger and sighed. "Thank you… er… I don't recognize you, actually. Are you all right?"

The messenger's face was covered completely with a white cloth, much like a leper would; however, his hands were free and brown. Maybe he suffered a terrible fate that marred his face when he was younger. She could see his eyes, however. They were hazel and almond shaped. This man was not from her soldiers that was for certain. Might he be from someplace else and caught the message?

"You are an unusual man," she said.

"I am fine, I found the message after someone had attacked your messenger and I went to Camelot for a brief period to see if maybe it was meant for someone there. When no one recognized it, I broke the seal and read it myself. I found your husband inside the castle, m'lady," he said. His accent was odd, like that of an Arab. Maybe that was why he had his face covered so oddly and his clothes were bright as well. It also explained his brown skin and his odd looking eyes.

"How did you find him inside the castle?"

"I was trading goods with the cook and saw my lady's husband being paraded around on a chain as though he were a dog," said the strange Arab in front of her.

Emer shot to her feet and slammed her hands down on the desk. "How dare she!? Thank you, kind sir; I will give you your reward soon. However, I must make arrangements to get my husband back! You have done this queen a great service with your information!" She leaned up and kissed both of his cheeks before she hurried to gather the note from the table and get herself gathered up to go gather the forces of Ulster, of Ireland, to go against all of Briton.

She only made it to the door when a sharp pain entered her back. She gasped and fell against the door with a thump. Another sharp pain in her back and she turned to see the strange Arab holding up a Connacht bow and arrow and pointing it at her. "Actually, I lied," he said in perfect, royal, English, "but my queen wants you out of the way so she can keep her new pet. By the way, he is only chained up, but he receives the best care possible from her and enjoys himself immensely."

He let loose his final arrow into her heart from a strange angle, each to make certain it didn't enter far into her, but far enough to kill her, as if from afar. When she slumped against the door, blood oozing from her mouth as she trembled, dying, he made the arrows disappear and walked over to her. Then, with precise movements, he pushed the Connacht arrowhead into her heart and went to the window. He looked out and gazed at the towers. He could hear someone coming, so he had to make his escape soon.

He had a coin he kept on him should he need to make a swift exit and pulled it out. It was a trick Merlin had taught him in his youth. Put spells on the coin that will pull him out of one place and into the other where he would have placed the coin's mate. He touched the coin and counted to three and felt a pull behind his navel. He then, shot forward through something bright and wildly lit before landing next to his horse who he had let loose in Cannick. There, he had ambushed an Arab trader and gone to Ireland dressed as such.

He saddled up his horse and left for home. He had grown numb to the faces of the people he had killed. If he pretended they didn't exist, then they didn't and he could keep going. His queen needed him and that was the important thing.

* * *

Cuchulainn woke up to the whimpers of Arturia. She shouldn't have been on her menses yet again, so why did she whimper? Emiya would be home in a couple of days to report and take care of her, so he was all she had to take care of her in the meantime. He supposed it wasn't a bad thing, though he was now beginning to really want to go back home, thanks to her strange behavior when they had sex and when she washed him.

"Mummy… I'm sorry," she whimpered and curled up under the blankets. He frowned and tugged at his chains. This was something new. He had never listened to her whimper about her mother or other family. She only ordered invisible servants about in her dreams as far as he knew.

"Little queen?" he said softly, trying to see if she was not simply awake and whimpering.

"Please look at me… Why won't you look at me?"

Her mother didn't look at her? So, did her mother not truly want her when she was born? He frowned and tugged at his chains to see how far he had to work with. He found he could get up and did so, heading for her bed. He managed to get onto his feet and sat down on the mattress, though this was putting strain on him as the chains were heavy and stretched out as far as they would go.

"Please look at me… why won't you look at me? Morgan? Why won't mummy look at me?" She shook underneath her blankets as she started to cry. He frowned and attempted to lean over her, but found he could not. Damn chains!

He pulled the blankets back from her body a little to see how she was positioned. She was tightly curled up on her side, crying softly in her sleep. He covered her again and tried to touch her face, but found that his fingertips were all he could touch her with. He stroked the skin of her cheek with light gentle strokes as he hummed softly, the sound sweet and gentle. She started to relax at his coaxing and fell silent after a little while. He sighed when she wasn't whimpering anymore and eyed his chains warily. He supposed he wouldn't have a problem with staying longer, but he worried for Emer taking her new title on all by herself. She was more suited to the lifestyle than he, but he could lead and she could not. She had moments of decisiveness, but most often, she would simply let someone else take the job for her.

He hoped that Emer was all right and went back to sleep, this time leaning against the bed of Arturia with her curtains as his blanket.


	33. Chapter Thirty Two

_**A/N:3 I'm glad people like this story. It makes me feel good that my hard workin' brain can produce stuff people enjoy! Also, CALL ME EHREN. Don't worry, it's my name. You can call me that if you want instead of by my last name. :3**_

_**Chapter Thirty-Two**_

Cuchulainn ate silently from his plate as he listened to Emiya talk to Arturia. It wasn't easy to hear, but he supposed that the walls were far thicker than the sound could travel through.

"Your sister Morgan has a new son. Mordred is his name," said Emiya. Where had Cuchulainn heard that name before? He thought for a moment and recalled watching Arturia curl up in her bed like a scared child. So Morgan was her sister and both Morgan and her mother hated Arturia?

"A son you say?" Arturia's voice sounded cold and distant, as though she were thinking. She more than likely was twenty steps ahead of Emiya as he spoke to her.

"A son. He has dark hair like his mother and gold eyes," said Emiya softly.

There was a strange sound that caused Cuchulainn's attention to snap to the wall. It sounded as though something had fallen. "My queen!" Had she fainted?

"My queen? Are you all right? You fainted so suddenly," said Emiya.

"I… I-I will be fine, Emiya. Please, go ahead and go take a rest and eat. You deserve a good rest after the work you have done," said Arturia. She sounded very shaky as she spoke.

The sound of a door opening and closing caught Cuchulainn's attention. Emiya walked out of Arturia's study and went to his bed and sat. Cuchulainn frowned faintly and watched as Arturia walked into the bedchamber and sat down with a shaky hand coming up to her face and rubbing it. "I knew she would do something…."

Cuchulainn watched silently for a moment before putting his empty plate down. Arturia looked over to him, white as a sheet. He frowned more and pulled his knees up, resting his arms on them. "What's wrong, little queen? You look as though you've seen a ghost," he said with a small smile toward her.

"You have no idea how right you are," she said and looked away. She looked as though she were debating something very heavily. He sympathized with her as heavy decisions were a part of his daily life whether he asked for them or not.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, I'm not going to force you," he said as he watched her with his head leaned back against the wall behind him.

"Several years back, I was turned into a man by a potion that had been slipped into my soup," she said softly, he could almost not hear her. "Something occurred the night I fainted from changing into a man. Merlin explained to me what had happened and Emiya chased after the culprit. It had been my sister, Morgan, who had come in the night and bribed someone to slip the potion in my soup."

Cuchulainn found this story very intriguing and more than a little bizarre. Her family was certainly off enough to be used as a drama play for entertainment.

"The night I fainted from the sudden change, I… dreamt… that something… was tugging on a part of me… touching and a strange…." Her cheeks flushed and she looked further away from him. "Merlin told me that a lot of men like that, but I am not a man and was never meant to be one. To me… it felt sickening to have the feelings a man would when a woman put his…. Male appendage… into her mouth…"

Cuchulainn grinned deviously. The little vixen was shy all right, to the point of stuttering. She wouldn't even say "cock" or "dick" or any other version of words to describe the penis. Either that, or she lacked terms to use and talking to him about it was embarrassing enough without showing her ineptitude in male lingo. "You did it to me well enough," he said, still grinning devilishly at her.

She looked over to him and gazed at him with a very angry look. "Yes, and I told you why. You are a man, however, and you were meant to feel those feelings, I was never meant to feel them like a man would. That I did made me feel strange and ill."

Cuchulainn's grin faded slightly and he nodded. "I see. So in essence, she raped you." Arturia nodded and looked away to her hands in her lap. "And now you have a son?" The sudden stiffening of Arturia's back told him everything he needed to know. So her sister had made a son from Arturia's seed and her own womb and brought the child up. He understood now why she was so shaken. Every woman dreamed of marrying and having a family, bearing the children from their womb, but not every woman made a child in another woman's womb. Such a thing would cause a rather natural aversion and horror in the heart of the woman who was forced with such an unnatural deed as to create inside another woman's womb. Especially if that other woman was your own sister.

She stood up and smartened herself up before walking to her door. She stopped with her hand on the door handle and looked down at the door handle. "He also told me that…. your… wife is dead… killed by a trader passing through," she said softly, her voice almost devoid of any life.

It was as though someone had skewered him through the heart and wrenched his heart out. Cuchulainn sat staring at Arturia with wide red eyes, the color leaving his skin. Arturia didn't look at him; she simply walked out and closed the door quietly behind her. Cuchulainn leaned back against the cold stone of the wall behind him and stared at nothing as the reality of what she said sank in. Emer was dead? How could she be dead when all of Ulster would protect her with their very lives if it came to it?

He trembled hard and gripped his shirt over his heart. He had to find out! He had to escape somehow and fast! He had to find out if what the little queen had said was true, for he could not imagine life without Emer!

While Cuchulainn started formulating a plan of escape inside the bedchamber, Emiya watched as his queen moved away from leaning against her bedchamber door and walk smoothly across to her study and close it. What he did not see was her hug herself and slowly slide down the door to the floor, shaking even harder than before, but her face as emotionless as a pristine china doll.

* * *

"So, my sister's way is clear, hmmm? Not as long as I have you, dear Mordred," said Morgan as she moved away from her window. Mordred sat upon a chair, his big gold eyes wide as he watched Morgan walk toward him and ruffle his hair. "You came out much better than I had expected. Mummy made you the old fashioned way when she couldn't remember how to transmute a living being," she said gleefully.

"Lot will never know and for that I am glad," she said softly and then hugged Mordred, who looked very confused at his mother.

"Mummy? Why are you talking like that?" he said.

"Because mummy is happy to have you as her son," she said softly, stroking his dark wavy hair. He really was very beautiful. If only he had not been born from her own damned sister, she might love him more. Instead, she merely looked at him and loved him for the grand creation he was and left it at that.

He smiled faintly up at Morgan. "Mummy loves me?"

She smiled and kissed his forehead. "Of course mummy loves you, but your daddy doesn't I'm afraid. You see, your daddy was actually a woman and drank a gender change potion and tricked mummy into going to bed with him. You remember that set of potions I keep around? She had taken one of those and drank it all up before taking mummy to bed. But mummy's sister can't have you, because you're my little boy now," she said. "And you're growing up to be such a big boy so fast!"

Mordred grinned and hugged Morgan around her waist. He really was growing very fast, much faster than he should. He was already far taller than he should have been. "I love you, mummy. Mummy seems a lot nicer than 'daddy' does."

Morgan smirked nastily as she curled a lock of Mordred's hair around her finger as he buried his face against her stomach. "Yes, mummy loves her little Mordred."

* * *

Several days went by without much activity. Cuchulainn had formulated a plan in his mind as to how he could escape, but it would require a small amount of trickery on his part and a lot of luck on his side. He simply waited, watching Arturia go to bed and rise in the morning and waited for when she would choose the moment to come to him. She had been very distant with him and slept with her back toward him as though she were ashamed. Judging by the shock she had received and the news she had to give to him, he doubted that she could stand to look at herself in the mirror anymore. Not even men liked to give such news and hear such news given to them, much less a woman.

His chance came soon, however. He wasn't certain how long it had been, but it had been long enough that he had nearly forgotten his own plan.

He was awake when she slipped out of her bed. She walked silently toward him and then got on her knees in front of him, her long pale hair brushing the blanket covering him. She pulled the blanket away from him carefully and pushed it away from him. He didn't give her much resistance. The look she carried caused his heart to clench. She was still far too pale for her own good and carried a stony look that he could only interpret as a mask covering a sea of turmoil inside her.

She tightened the chains holding him silently and then pushed his kilt up his legs. Her fingers were cold and felt as though death was touching him. They warmed eventually as she touched his muscled thighs, running her fingertips up and down the inside of his thighs as though she were awed by them. He groaned and felt his cock start to stiffen from the butterfly light touches she gave him.

She reached a hand out and stroked his manhood gently, swirling her thumb over the head occasionally. His eyes slipped shut and he leaned his head back against the stone wall holding him up. He writhed from the pleasurable agony she gave him with just the touch of her small hand on him.

When he opened his eyes, he saw her looking up at him, watching him. He smirked faintly and leaned forward as far as his chains and leash would allow him. "You're doing a very good job of that, little queen," he said in a husky tone. The flush across her face was visible even in the half light. His chains rattled slightly as he jerked at them, breathing against her face as she seemed to lean toward him. He jerked at his chains again and snapped his jaws at her. "Let me loose and I'll pleasure you beyond anything you could ever dream," he said.

Arturia's eyes lowered to his mouth and he smirked evilly at her. She was intrigued and he had her utmost attention with that. "Let me loose, little queen," he said softly.

Arturia shoved him back suddenly, grabbing for his leash. He grunted from the force he hit the wall, but saw her arm and smirked deviously. He nipped lightly at the underside of her wrist, flicking his tongue over her skin as she held onto his leash. He looked to her from the side of his vision and grinned at the look on her normally cold features. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were wide and frightened. Most definitely, she was afraid of him. She had to be afraid of how he made her feel in bed when he had control, for she was always in control of herself and those around him. It suddenly made sense why she did so much to keep him tied back from her. She was afraid of him making her lose the control she had!

She rubbed his cock once again and caused his body to shiver. He leaned his head back against the wall behind him and groaned, writhing slowly from the torment she gave him. He had groan long in her hand and more than ready to take her with it. With that, she crawled onto his lap and was caught by surprise as he suddenly leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

She gasped and felt his tongue enter her mouth. Cuchulainn growled into her mouth as he pressed against her further, running his tongue over hers in bold movements. Her heart pounded in her chest and caused her small frame to tremble from the overwhelming emotions rushing through her.

He pulled away slowly, smirking when she moved after him to kiss him again. He let her come to him and kissed her once more, leaning back against the wall for support as he felt her small hands move over his chest and into his shirt. She panted against his mouth when she broke away, gazing at him through her lashes, her lips deliciously swollen from his kisses. He moved toward her and groaned as she clutched at his chest for support, licking at her lips gently. "Release me, please…. I want to touch you."

She hesitated as she watched him, the feeling of his pounding heart under her fingertips. She slid her fingers over his shoulders and unshackled his neck first. He moved forward and kissed her again, eliciting a moan from her throat. He felt her fingers move down over his arms and unlock the shackles at his wrists. He moved away slightly and watched her through half lidded eyes. She gazed at him as though transfixed and moved her hands under him and unlocked the shackles from his ankles.

She didn't have a moment to even think. He picked her up in a flash and laid her out on the bed, moving his head between her legs. She gasped and tried to shove him away, but the flicking of his tongue caused her whole body to shake. She yelped and arched, trembling and writhing as he pleasured her with his mouth. Was this what a woman was supposed to feel from the same form of pleasuring? She felt his fingers inside her and whimpered, pushing her fingers into his wild hair.

The sudden cry of passion that came from her made Cuchulainn grin more than he had in his entire life. It was so full of everything she had in her, the perfect sound for the orgasm of a woman who had just been pleasured in a way she had never imagined before. As he soothed away the aftershocks, he kissed her belly and ran his tongue over her skin. She moaned and gripped at his shirt. "Cuchulainn," she whimpered. She cried out suddenly when he bit her flesh gently.

He removed his kilt and shirt, pushed his boots off quickly and then came back up between her legs. She flushed heavily when she saw him move up over her, his hair free from his ponytail. "Did you want more, little queen?" he teased.

She looked afraid again. She really did surprise him sometimes with the absolute femininity of her reactions toward him. When he clearly had control over her, she could do nothing but take it and enjoy. That probably scared her and intrigued her more than anything.

He coaxed her under the blankets and sheets and furs; ran his tongue over her ear as he pulled them over them so the chill wouldn't bite at them so hard. She moaned when his mouth moved over her neck, down between her breasts and over her belly. He moved back up and took one of her nipples into his mouth and suckled on it. She whimpered and writhed underneath him, gripping at his shoulders and shoving at him as he pinched and twisted her other nipple, rubbing her breast with his hand. He then moved over to the other breast and pinched the one he left, eliciting gasps and groans from Arturia as she bucked her hips underneath him.

He moved between her legs once more and thrust his cock into her, groaning into her ear as he did so. She cried out and wrapped her legs around his slim hips; following his motions as he thrust into her welcoming heat. He watched her as she came to life under him. Instead of whimpering, she was almost snarling like a beast. She clawed at his shoulders and gripped herself to his much larger frame as he continued to move slowly in and out of her body.

He kissed her hard and wrapped his arms around her as he stopped. She bucked her hips against him and forced a growl from his throat. She was demanding more and he wasn't giving in too readily. He chuckled at her demands and braced himself over her. "Insistent little queen aren't you?"

She gasped as he thrust much faster into her body. His grunts and groans mixed with hers as he moved deeper into her, pushing her limits. When that stopped satisfying him, he thrust harder into her and watched her arch her back with each movement he made. He watched claw at him once again, demanding more and more from him. He moved even faster into her and panted heavily, grasping her buttocks with one hand and wrapped his other arm around her as he leaned over her and nuzzled into her hot neck. She was nearing her completion, for he felt her tighten more and more around his manhood until he was blindly moving on instinct. She cried out loudly, her scream echoing off the walls of her room as she trembled and shook from the convulsions in her body. He thrust deep into her as he leaned once more into her neck, smelling that rose and orchid perfume mixed with the musk of her body. She writhed once more beneath him until he shot hot seed into her womb, shouting out as loudly as she had from the force of it.

When he had spurted as much as he could into her body, he slowly moved over her and slipped his arms around her, nuzzling against her forehead with his lips. She put her hands onto his shoulders and moaned as she nipped at his chin and over his throat. He kissed her over her nose and lips, flicking his tongue against hers in light movements before sighing and settling against her. After a moment, he rolled her on top of him and settled back against the soft bed, loving the feel of a real bed for the first time in a month and a half and the feel of Arturia's warm body curled against his side like a cat.

He did not fall asleep, but did close his eyes and reveled in the fortunate situation he found himself in. He felt her body start to cool against him and heard her mumble against his chest, though it was hard to hear. "….ove… you…" she had murmured. He couldn't quite string it together, so he forgot about it until he actually did sleep for real. After all, this had been his first time out of his chains and in a real bed.

* * *

Cuchulainn woke before Arturia could have. He grinned when he saw her sleeping peacefully for the first time in all the time he had known her. He heard Emiya leave to either get breakfast or practice, he didn't care.

He slowly slipped from her arms and covered her with her bed furs and blankets and sheets until she would stay nice and warm in her bed with his smell to comfort her dreams. Then, he pulled on his boots swiftly and pulled on his kilt and shirt, his gauntlets and gloves and shoulder guards before moving out of the bedchamber quietly. He stole one of Emiya's cloaks and moved out quickly. He would steal some food on his way north to get to the ferry so he could cross over to Ireland. There he would get himself to Ulster and see if his wife was truly dead or if it had been a mistaken rumor.

As he ran north, his legs carrying him at a speed that he hardly ever used, he watched the sun come up and watched the walls of Camelot disappear and another town come into focus. He passed through towns swiftly without a problem, for he was far faster than anyone had ever counted on him being. His speed was faster than the fastest horses and his agility was far greater than anyone. He would make it to the border land in no time and he would be able to make it home!


	34. Chapter Thirty Three

_**A/N: hope ya'll liked the last chapter, because the shit is going to hit the fan.**_

_**Chapter Thirty-Three**_

Arturia dreamed. She dreamed she was warm and well cared for. She dreamed of the days when she was a child and Merlin had come to take her away. At that time, her mother had taken to full out ignoring her cries, even when she knew she couldn't be ignored. Arturia had given up all hope of ever gaining her mother's care. Merlin had come one day and smiled at her gently and picked her up. She tried to hide from him, but he picked her up and put her on his shoulders. She was so high up!

She remembered the smell of his hair smelled like magic to her then. She had known he was a famous wizard, famous for working with her father, famous for being an excellent wizard. When he walked away from the home she had come to be afraid of, he carried her still on his shoulders as if she weighed nothing. She was so small, so tiny, that she doubted she weighed much to begin with. She could still remember the feeling of watching him create a portal and take her to his home. She remembered the toys he bought for her to play with, though she hardly knew what to do with them. Eventually, she simply destroyed them because she became frustrated by them. It wasn't that she was stupid, it was that they didn't do what she wanted them to.

She nuzzled against the soft pillow and mumbled as she smelled the scent of Cuchulainn in it. She smiled warmly and curled around it as though it were him. Somewhere in the back of her mind, it slowly dawned on her that it was indeed a pillow and something was wrong. However, sleep was hard to shove off and it was far too pleasant being in her dreams.

She opened her eyes slowly and stretched, yawning. As she sat up, she looked blearily at the spot where Cuchulainn had been. It was cold there now. He had to have left long before she ever woke.

Sudden realization took hold of her senses. She was alone in bed. The shackles were empty and all she had left to her was the strange pleasant feeling he had left her with that she was cared for. Had he simply had sex with her just so he could get away?!

She shot out of her bed and pulled on her underdress and over dress. She pulled on her boots and stockings, her cloak, and left with her hood pulled up; her sword strapped to her side and black armor starting to cover her body. She didn't bother going for her helmet, she simply trudged out the main doors, past Merlin and Emiya, to the stables.

"My queen!" cried Emiya. "Where are you going?!"

"I have something I must see to personally, Emiya. You stay here!" she snarled. Emiya jumped back at the rage that was building inside her tiny frame.

"Arturia, what has happened?" asked Merlin.

"Leave me be, Merlin," she snapped and then swung herself up onto her saddle. "I have only the rest of this day to accomplish my task!" The horse reared up and Merlin had to move back quickly to keep from being hit.

Emiya helped him up and watched as Arturia galloped off with her cloak flying behind her. "She's pissed."

"I don't think that's quite the phrase, Emiya Shirou," said Merlin, frowning, "But very close."

* * *

Cuchulainn had to rest. He had been running since early that morning, had blown through three towns already and he still wasn't any closer to the water than he was that morning. He groaned and lay down and ate some of the food he stole. It wasn't much, but he couldn't afford to take much with him. He had to keep moving as fast as he possibly could to get to Ireland before things really got bad back home. After all, it was more than likely no coincidence that some Arab or Babylonian or whatever those people called themselves now had come through and killed his wife!

He pulled on a pair of trousers under his kilt to keep his legs warm in the freezing weather. He always did hate the cold. Ireland was far warmer than this land and he preferred home to it.

When he was warm enough, he took a nap to make certain he was well rested before he tried his body's stamina to its limits once more. He had amazing stores of energy that he hardly ever tapped into except when making love and that was usually only tested when he had a woman who was exceptionally tiring as well or more than one woman to deal with.

With that in mind, he leaned back against a tree and fell asleep.

* * *

The sound of Arturia's heart pounded inside her own head. She felt a great emptiness filling her inside and making her feel cold and angry. She couldn't think, she could only keep moving through the towns, looking for Cuchulainn. She had to find him! Her horse was close to collapsing from exhaustion so she traded it off for a good stallion in Yewark. Then, she continued riding until that one was close to dropping.

When she reached Stonecraft, she traded the horse she had from Yewark for another good steed and set off once more. The horses foamed at the mouth from how hard she drove them. Cuchulainn had several hours for a head start and she knew that he could run as fast as or faster than the best horses around. He was faster than humanly possible and he hardly ever tapped into that strength of his unless he felt it was absolutely necessary.

Damn that Irish hero and all the things she had ever felt for him! She would teach him a lesson in pain that he would **never** forget!!

* * *

Cuchulainn dreamed peacefully. He dreamed of his days as a young man, becoming a hero, finding Emer, of the legends he had heard as a child and how they sounded like something he wanted to be. He always knew he was destined to be a hero, to be the King of Heroes of Ireland, one day. He would be the greatest in all Ireland's history and no one else would be able to rival him. Though he knew one day he would die and die soon, for having such greatness would lead to his early demise, he lived life to the fullest possible extent that he could have.

It was the reason for his love of women who caught his rather hard to attract interest. It was the reason he could run around like a child and laugh as loud as one. He did not care; he **could not** care that he may look ridiculous or childish. He did things as he felt he should do them for one day he would die and that would be the end of his great adventures.

As he dreamed, he remembered the feeling of Aife when he made love to her, the feeling of Emer as she wrapped herself around him and smiled warmly at him, of Sgatha and any number of other women that brought him some small amount of happiness. Then, he remembered the feeling of Arturia. He had grown attached to the little queen, enjoyed the look of warmth she gave him in her bed. It could not have been any better a moment for him to see her gaze so lovingly at him. Were he not so worried about the words she spoke of his wife, he might have stayed longer, for he doubted she would get her fill of him any time soon, however, he would request she keep the shackles off more often, for he hated them.

With that in mind, he woke up and headed off once more.

* * *

Emiya pulled on a cloak and packed some food for himself. When he left his small bed, he went off to the stables and saddled up. The queen had left in such a rush that both he and Merlin were worried for the state of her mind. She had not eaten and had not done most things that one would when they woke up. The shackles were empty when he looked into the room to see what she had left. His spare cloak was gone and some of the food he had left out for himself that morning was gone.

In conclusion, Cuchulainn had managed to escape and his queen was beyond angry and into a full out rage. He had only seen her that angry before once and had cared not to see it again. He didn't care about who got in her way, but he cared what she might do to herself should she get hurt while chasing after the rogue!

* * *

Cuchulainn stopped when he heard something. He frowned and looked around. He knew he was making pretty deep tracks from the way he was running, but knew that whoever came after him would likely not be able to catch up. Even Emiya, the lapdog, would not be able to keep up with him!

When he saw nothing, he jogged a little bit to get back into speed again, his breaths coming out in clouds in front of him as it froze. He was sweating terribly from the strain her put himself through, but he was barely winded, truthfully. He stopped for a moment more to get his heart back to a normal pace and judge the direction he was headed in.

The sound of horse hooves pounded hard behind him. He frowned and wondered who might be coming through, for it could not have been anyone who was following after him from Camelot. Whoever it was was traveling at a speed equal to his own on a horse!

The image of a black cloak flying behind a woman with pale gold hair and black veins of something unnatural creeping up her cheeks caught his attention. Arturia pulled her sword out and Cuchulainn made a break for it into the forest trees. She darted around trees after him and swung at branches that got into her way. Cuchulainn zigzagged as well as he could to keep running. The woman was MAD!

He found himself running into a clearing of snow and stumbled over a root, falling onto his face. She stopped her horse and dismounted with sword still in her hand. He rolled over and got to his feet quickly, Gae Bolg appearing in his hand as he called to it. "Stay back, little queen! I must leave to Ireland so I may see who has taken my wife away from me!"

She gazed at him with eyes that fair glowed with rage. Her entire face was a frozen mask of contempt toward him. When she spoke, it was with a voice as chilly as her face. "I do not care why you left, hound, or for your wife."

He felt a sharp stab in his heart at this and frowned, pointing the spear down toward the ground and gathered energy at its tip. He didn't want to hurt her, but for all he had in his heart, he could not let her stop him from the task he had to pursue. With a speed that he had been keeping since he had left Camelot, he darted forward and jabbed her with his spear. She dodged it and swung the sword around and caught him on his side. He cried out in pain and jumped back to avoid another blow.

He bled profusely from his side, but he could live if he got away now. "Why are you doing this?! You got what you wanted from me and now I need to go back home! Are you trying to start some sort of war with Ireland?!"

He yelped and moved away fast as she ran at him and swung that great sword of hers which pulsed with her heart beat. It was slow and steady, not beating fast like a person who was in the middle of a battle. It was the beat of a cold blooded killer!

He dodged another blow and struck out with his spear. He caught her in her shoulder before stumbling back to avoid another hit. "Don't fight me, woman! I don't want to kill you!"

Her eyes were wild with rage as she brought a clawed gauntlet covered hand up to her shoulder. A red light pulsed from it and she pulled her hand away to reveal that the wound had sealed itself up. Horror struck, Cuchulainn started running again. There was no way he could fight a woman with the ability to heal the wounds made by his cursed spear!! Not with the wild, blinding, rage she seemed to have toward him!

He cried out as a blow to his back shoved him into the snow. He rolled away and got up onto his knees, jabbing Arturia into the back with his spear. He moved away as she lashed out at him with her black sword and ran around her to come at her again. If he had to fight her, by whatever gods blessed him there were, he was going to win this!

He grabbed some snow and rolled onto the ground to dodge a swing made by her and threw the snow into her face before swinging his spear up. She jumped back and growled unnaturally from her throat as she wiped the snow from her face. She glared at him through her hair as he grinned faintly at her. "Don't fight me and you won't get hurt anymore, little queen. I'm not Ireland's champion for nothing!"

She pulled her sword up and then swung it around in a strange movement. He saw the sword separate and pull apart as though it were a whip and then she snapped it out at him. He yelped in surprise as he dodged it, ducking and rolling and jumping to keep from getting hit by the dangerous blade. He blocked what he could with his spear before he realized that she was getting closer to him. He needed distance from her!

He ran when she got too close and went back into the forest to lose her. She took after him at a speed he had never seen from her before. It was as though he were outrunning his own shadow!

He cried out when a branch in front of him slammed into him. He saw her come up from behind him and saw her hand held out as though she had cast a spell. He thought she wasn't a witch!

He tasted blood in his mouth from the blow and rolled onto his hands and knees to get up. Her eyes were going white as the black crept up the sides of her face. She no longer looked human, but demonic instead.

"What have I done to you, damnable woman?! I've done nothing but take what you have given me and forced onto me!" he snarled, starting to grow from the rage building inside him.

She kept coming toward him and he stood his ground, for his war spasm was starting to take over now and he cared not for any more excuses. "Come any closer, you stupid woman, and I'll rip you apart!" he roared.

He cried out in pain. He had not seen her move, but now his leg was gone and he was on the ground, bleeding heavily from his missing leg. She stood over him with a dead look in her white eyes and her cold face. He panted through gritted teeth and swung out at her with his fist. She didn't even budge; he simply hit the plate armor and bounced off her without so much as a dent to reward his effort. How could such a small woman handle a man like him without even cringing!?

"Why! Why are you doing this! Did I not do what you want?!" he snarled and spat at her.

She gazed down at him for a moment and grabbed his arm when he swung out at her again. He yelped when she stomped her armor clad boot down onto his chest and shoved her heel into his ribcage. "You offend my eyes," she said, "As you do my senses." Her voice was colder than cold as she held his arm up with little effort even as he jerked at her trying to free himself.

He heard it rather than felt it. He heard bone snap and tissues ripping. He heard the sickening sound of his own arm being ripped off and watched her as she flung it away from him before actual pain hit him. He shouted in pain and hit at her with his other fist to get her off. She did not get off him. Instead, she reached down and grabbed him by his hair and pulled him up in a swift move.

"You offend me with those eyes," she said softly before kicking him on his wounded leg. "You offend me with those eyes, so I'll take one out and cease the offense."

The screams of Cuchulainn could be heard all over the hills and mountains, all over the forests for miles around as Arturia's clawed gauntlet covered hand scraped away at the left side of his face until she jabbed her fingers into his eye socket and ripped his offending eye out of it. She looked at it and crushed it in her hand with a sickening pop as blood and fluids dripped down her gauntlet. Then, she threw Cuchulainn away from her at a tree and picked up her sword.

However, something had happened that she had not anticipated. A light in the air swallowed up Cuchulainn and made him disappear where he landed. She frowned and walked over to where she had seen him disappear and reached a hand out into the air. Where had her little toy gone? Where had the little offending piece of filth gone off to?

In another bright, blinding flash, her surroundings disappeared in front of her; changing from woods and snow covered ground to that of stone walls and strange people. My, things were turning out far more irritating than she had thought!


	35. Chapter Thirty Four

_**A/N: blah blah blah, so I'm glad ya'll like this story! I have a sword strapped to my wall. . **_

_**Chapter Thirty-Four**_

Cuchulainn landed on hard rock. He cried out in pain and curled up on the rock flooring he had somehow landed on. Screams erupted from women around him and shouts of surprise as well. Where on earth had he ended up?

Strong hands lifted him up and he felt a crushing tightness envelope him as though he were being squeezed through a tube of black. Then, all at once, he was in a lighted area that smelled of potions and sterile metal. "Where am I?" he mumbled. He couldn't see and his other eye was blinded by blood from the other side of his head.

A man's tenor voice, smooth and soft, spoke to him gently. "Stay here, please. The doctors will take care of you."

"What the hell happened here?! He's a mess!!" cried another man, franticly coming near him. He felt as though he were lying on a bed once more, smelled the sterile things in the room mixed with potions and the smell of his own blood. He became sick, but kept the sickness down as another pair of strong hands started working on him.

"Damien? Whoa! What happened to him?" gasped a woman's voice. He smelled a faint perfume as she came closer and yelped in pain when she touched the place where his arm had been ripped from. "We'll need to get Astra to give him a temp until she can get help to make the limbs needed. Do you think he'll want an implanted eye as well?"

"Better leave it until he is conscious enough to tell you, Eva," said the man's voice, Damien's voice to the woman, Eva.

Then, unconsciousness overtook him.

* * *

It had been a peaceful day. Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had been running smoothly all day and the teachers having few problems with the students. It was so peaceful that something awful was bound to happen because their luck was never this good. Amber Weasley-Riddle sat between her two husbands, Fred Weasley and Tom Riddle, as she graded papers. She wasn't a tall woman; in fact, many liked to tease her about how small she was, including her own first husband, Fred. However, Tom would repeatedly tell her how she was the perfect size for him, but then; he didn't like women who were much bigger than her to begin with. She also had a similar appearance to her own grandfather, who sat across the room, Edward Elric. Just like her grandfather, she was small and had blonde hair and gold eyes.

Tom, a very tall man who was nearly double the height of his own wife, sat reading a book on the great Grindlewald who was a dark lord in their past. He had read it before, but he liked to keep himself up with history. After all, knowledge was power and he was very keen on keeping himself on top of everything. He was a very handsome man, his features fine and strong, his hair smooth and black and his eyes, his eyes were the most alluring feature on him besides his handsome face. His eyes were a deep blue color, so dark that they almost appeared black. His build was thin and lithe, but his shoulders and chest were fairly broad and muscled.

Amber's other husband, meanwhile, was dealing with inventory papers for his and his brother's joke shop franchise. He was much shorter than Tom, who rivaled most in the school with his massive height. He was broad chested and broad shouldered with freckles all over his much thicker and muscled body. His hair was the typical "Weasley Red" that all his six siblings had, which all of them had been teased for having.

Opposite to these three were four people sitting on a long couch. Three were men and they had a very tall woman lying across their laps as though she were a giant cat. This woman was Astra Malfoy-Elric and she was not a small woman. In fact, she was as broad shouldered as Fred Weasley was, with broad hips to match and a large bosom that was mashed against one of the three men she laid on. Her skin was the palest color possible, just like the man on the right end of the couch; her hair was totally white and ran down her back in a very long plait. Rather large, pointed, ears protruded from the sides of her head slightly through her hair, looking very elf like in origin.

The man on the right end of the couch was Astra's first husband Draco Malfoy. He was as pale as anything could ever be with pale blonde hair that was routinely being brushed from his eyes. He was a slightly built man, taking on a more feminine appearance rather than male, though his pointed features did attract a certain amount of attention from women including his won wife.

The man next to him was a small man with well muscled limbs and body. Though he was shorter than most of the men in the room, he was also far more tenacious in a fight than most of them as well. He was Edward Elric and he was the third husband of Astra, whose rear was conveniently located on his lap. He looked to his fellows for a moment before slapping Astra's rear with a broad, shark like, grin spreading over his face.

Astra wiggled and smacked him on his arm. "Hey! Don't hit that right now, damn it! I'm comfortable!"

Edward grinned more and rubbed Astra's rear. "I want attention, wife." However, he didn't get much further because the third man sitting next to him slapped him on the back of his head. This man was far larger than him and rightfully looked almost exactly like him, if he appeared older than twenty-five or so. His hair was pulled back in a very long blonde pony tail and his blonde beard was fairly thick. His cat like gold eyes were gentle normally, however, they peered at Edward through his glasses with extreme irritation.

"She said leave her alone, Ed," he said.

Edward glowered at his father for a moment before rubbing Astra's spine as he pouted sullenly. He'd get her attention one way or another!

Hohenheim Elric sighed and stroked Astra's hair gently. "Ignore the runt, he's being a pest," he said, his voice low and smooth.

Astra mumbled and snuggled against Hohenheim's knee for a moment before looking over at the amused look of her friend Amber. "What?"

"Just laughing at your misfortune," she said with a bright smile.

Astra stuck her middle finger up at her before snuggling back into Hohenheim's knee once more, causing Amber to laugh.

It had started out nice and peaceful for them; however, a bright light flashed off to the side and out dropped the body of a blue haired man. His right arm was missing completely from his body and his left leg was cut off about mid thigh. His face, however, was a horrible mess of claw marks surrounding an empty, bloody, eye socket.

Amber screamed as did a few of the other women in the large room. She started to run over to check him out, Astra snapping to attention and getting off her husband's laps in a hurry. However, it was Tom who walked past his wife and kneeled down. "He's alive," he said, his voice a soft tenor. He reached down and picked the body up into his arms before he stood up. "I'll take him to the infirmary." Then, he turned on the spot and disappeared with a loud crack.

"Damn, what the hell happened to that guy?" asked Astra as she went over to the wall to see if anything else would come through. "He looked like he had been mauled by a beast or something."

"Yeah, I know," said Amber, pulling out her wand. "Be careful over there, Astra, we don't know what else will come through. Also, you'll need to get a hold of your great granddaughter and get her over here so you two can make the poor guy some limbs. He'll need them."

Astra nodded to Amber and jogged from the room. Fred rubbed Amber's shoulder and smiled faintly at her. "At least he's in a good place that'll take care of him, right, Ambs?"

Amber nodded, but felt uneasy. She had a sense that whatever had caused that man's body to be so mangled had to be coming as well.

She didn't have to wait long. A light flashed and out stepped a small woman, shorter than her, even, clad in all black with pale gold hair pulled back in a braided bun behind her head. Amber moved back quickly, her wand ready as the woman lifted up a blood covered black sword. "Who are you?" asked Amber.

The woman gazed at Amber coldly. "Where is he?"

"Where is who?" asked Amber, feeling the room temperature almost drop several degrees from the woman's mere presence in it.

"My toy. He has gone and I suspect you have him."

"Toy? Did he have blue hair and was missing an eye and an arm and leg?" asked Fred.

"Yes, he was," she said, eyeing him.

Edward growled as Amber stiffened. The woman walked forward and stopped when they all shifted toward her. "Where is he?" she said.

"We just took him to be healed up," said Amber, glaring at this strange woman who dared to come into her home and harm another human being.

The woman's face was like a frozen mask, cold and unemotional, until Amber spoke to her. It twisted slightly in anger, showing the smallest amount of a crack in the icy mask she wore. "Where is he?"

"Put your weapon away and we might talk to you," said Amber. "If you don't, we will all be forced to make you put it down."

The woman didn't seem the least bit afraid and, indeed, Amber found herself more afraid of her than of anything she had ever fought before. The woman was creepy, but she had fought dark lords and killed many dark wizards in her past, by God, she was not going to let someone harm her school!

"I am Amber Weasley-Elric, deputy headmistress of this school, which you are in. It is Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. We have dealt with worse things in this place than you and I would suggest you do not do anything or else we will all fight you," said Amber. "My husband will be back soon, he is the headmaster and will speak with you should you choose to stay here for a while."

No sooner had she spoken, a loud crack sounded the return of Tom. He stood looking at the strange black clad woman coolly, blue eyes as cold as the woman's face. The woman did not put her weapon away nor did she move. She just stared up at the cool face of Tom as he did her. "Are you the one who harmed him? Yes, I expect you are, those claws look very bloody," he said, sounding slightly bored. His wand was out and flicked it at the woman without a second thought. Ropes shot from his wand at the small woman and would have likely made their mark if she had not seen them coming. She swung her blade up and cut the ropes as they flew past her in pieces.

He eyed her a moment more and smirked faintly. "Good with a sword, hmm? Now that's not nice." However, he had to suddenly move away as the small woman shot forward at him with her sword in hand. He slammed his foot down onto the woman's back as she passed him and then swung around with his fist, catching her on her chest. She cried out in surprise and leapt backward.

He grunted at the sting in his side. She had nicked him well enough, but had not managed worse before having to retreat. Amber looked ready to initiate her own terrible curse upon the woman for even trying to harm him. The small woman slid her gaze from him to Amber and swung her blade. The sword had turned into a whip!

Amber shot to the side as Fred yelped in surprise. Tom ducked down and shot a curse at the woman that forced her backward into the wall behind her. She didn't cry out in pain, but she jerked on the floor as though she were in the mightiest of pain. When she finally stopped jerking, her body steamed slightly as though she had been electrocuted.

Tom moved over toward the woman with his wand ready. "Attack and we will kill you. That is the law with me. If you behave, we will treat you well. Do you understand?"

The woman glared up at him angrily and swung her sword up at him. He wasn't nearly fast enough to move away and was caught in the chest by the blade. He yelped in pain as Fred, Edward and Hohenheim also shot forward to pull Tom off the woman's sword.

Amber saw the blade go through her husband and felt herself slip a little inside. As Fred pulled Tom off the sword, her own pupils disappeared and something like a pair of large doors appeared behind her. Tom snarled out at Amber. "SHUT THOSE DAMN DOORS!"

Amber snapped to and the doors disappeared. She panted and ran over to Tom. "We have to get you to the infirmary!" she said frantically.

Tom grunted and nodded before letting Fred help him out the doors to the hallway. Meanwhile, Amber turned toward the woman and held up her wand at the woman who was laying on the ground in a huddled position. "Crucio," said Amber.

The woman jerked on the ground again, this time screaming in agony. Edward winced and looked away as Hohenheim watched with a grim expression. When the torment was over, Amber looked to the woman and kept her wand trained on her. "Will you yield?"

The woman attempted to get up and Amber sent another volley at her. She screamed and thrashed on the ground until she was left panting heavily with her body still jerking involuntarily. Amber eyed her coldly and put her wand down. "Do you yield? I will not ask again."

The woman glared at her through her bangs and attempted to get up weakly, but slid down once more. She curled up and trembled, defeated by a witch's wand! After a moment, she finally croaked through a sore throat, "Y-yes…"

* * *

Cuchulainn heard a faint mumbling near him. Two women were speaking avidly to one another across the room, huddled together at a table as they played with what looked like maps or outlines of human body parts. Both had white hair, one taller than the other with elf like ears showing through her hair and the other smaller with long curly hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. "Hello," he said softly. He coughed and raised his voice, "Hello, ladies?"

They looked over at him and he saw that the smaller one looked almost like the taller one. She didn't have elf ears like the taller one and her eyes were violet while the taller one had blue-gray. If he had to make an assessment, he would say they were sisters. The taller one smiled at Cuchulainn in a very friendly manner and waved. "Hey, don't mind us; we're working on something for you."

"If it's got anything to do with sex, I'm afraid I don't think I'll be able to satisfy the way I am now," he said, chuckling faintly. The smaller girl giggled and flushed deeply on her pale cheeks while the taller one flushed faintly and rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head as she turned back around to continue working on whatever task she had.

"Might I ask what is going on? Where am I?" he said as he attempted to sit up. When he slid back down again, he gave up and simply watched them while lying down.

"You're in Hogwarts, school for witchcraft and wizardry, Mr. Blue-hair," said the taller one.

"I'm Cuchulainn, from Ulster," he said, smiling faintly at the women. They didn't look much older than possibly twenty.

The tall one frowned faintly and eyed him. "That's an odd name to take, given how it belonged to a hero of Ulster back in the Bronze Age or whatever, never did remember when that story took place," she said. "I'm Astra; this is my great granddaughter Necia. We're making you a prosthetic arm and leg so you can move around."

Cuchulainn frowned in confusion. "What?"

Astra eyed him with some small amount of amusement. Her accent was very strange, like the Americans that sometimes came over. It was somewhat slow with a strange feel to it. And the one she claimed to be her great granddaughter, which he highly doubted could even be possible, simply giggled and flipped through the papers in front of them. "Prosthetics are artificial limbs made to run off the body's electrical impulses so a man or woman may be able to once again use their arm like they should."

"How can she be your great granddaughter when you're so young?" he asked.

"Long story, I'm afraid. I could explain, but I'd talk your ear off," said Astra, smiling sheepishly at him. He liked this woman; she had a sassiness that he liked. Her voice was also low for a woman's voice and somewhat loud, but not overly so.

"Go ahead and explain, I'm afraid I don't have any place to go for the meantime," he said, motioning with the only hand had to him toward his missing limbs.

Astra smiled faintly and nodded before leaning back in her chair. "This school is home to many witches and wizards. Many of us have been here for hundreds of years. I came here in my fifth year when all hell was breaking loose in this school because my granma thought it would be safer for me. Only, I don't think she paid attention, because there was shit going down in this place that could make anyone not want to come here anymore."

"Hundreds of years?" he said as he stared at her. "How old are you exactly?"

"Me? Eh… I've sort of lost count. Probably about five hundred and fifty, but I'm not sure," she said. "I'm just making a round about guess, because I don't remember how long it's been since the year 1979."

Cuchulainn continued to stare at her as though she had sprouted another head. She sighed and rubbed her temple slowly. "When I was a kid, the world was a very different place. The old ruins you see in the countryside? Those are from my time. They were tall steel buildings once and now they're shit because you non-magic people decided that magicians were a bane to your existence and attempted to annihilate us. Only, we've got a few things on our side that prevented such a thing. Ya'll attempted to destroy us and we simply came back and let ya'll kill each other over who got to do what. Since then, I've lost count as to how old I am, because it's been so very long since then. We've had many things happen here that would take an even longer explanation. Simply put, we've not aged much since the first fifty years of our lives or so. I have a son that has serious allergies that ended up changing us into teenagers whenever he sneezes, so we hardly ever get the chance to get older than thirty."

"So, she's your great granddaughter? My, she looks a great deal like you," he said, trying to get to something that was more in the now than what was happening earlier.

She grinned at him and nodded. "Yes, she's my great granddaughter. She's also a prosthetic genius with making these things. Learned from the best teacher possible, the late wife of my husband Edward. She died about a hundred and some odd years ago, but we still miss her around here. She, thankfully, never actually went on to wherever and stuck around. Oi! Winry!"

A silvery ghost of a woman with long pale hair came through the wall and looked down at Astra with a bright smile. "Hi! What do you need, Astra?"

Astra motioned to him and smiled faintly up at the ghostly woman who she had referred to as Winry. "Was explaining some things to him about prosthesis and why we're all not crumbling bits of skeleton by now."

Winry nodded and went over to Cuchulainn and landed on her feet next to his bed. "Automail prosthesis is a process of applying metal limb replacements to the places where a human or animal has lost some part of his body. For you, it will be your eye, leg and arm."

"I don't want a replacement for my eye, thanks," he said, getting a little wary of the ghost speaking to him.

She shrugged and tapped her finger to her chin. "Hmmm, since you don't want your eye replaced, we'll just do your leg and arm and call it good. Okay?" When he nodded, she smiled brightly at him and floated over to Astra and Necia and sat down in the air. "Now, let's see what you two have managed to cook up!"

While the ghostly woman was quite cute and seemed very nice, the fact that she was a ghost bothered him some; especially the fact that she was a ghost that was holding a conversation with living people! As he watched the women talk to each other, a strange man came over to him. He was fairly tall with a black patch over his right eye. His eyes were bright blue and his hair was an odd color, pink. He had a very handsome face and grinned at him as he knelt down beside Cuchulainn's bedside. He was wearing an apron over his clothes and had a wand sticking out of one of the pockets as well as several potion phials. His ears were decorated with small gem studs in them that looked to be either crystal or diamond.

"I'm Damien Black, nice to meet you there, mate," he said cheerfully.

Cuchulainn nodded toward him. "Same," he said, "Are you the doctor who took care of me?"

"Aye, sort of am, my comrade Evangeline over there is also one who worked on you," said Damien. A red haired woman walked out of the back of the very large room and walked over to them. "Oi, Eva, what's going on?"

"Nothing much except your wife getting testy. She just contacted me to tell you to come home. It's getting late and you're missed," she said, smirking at him as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. She was a pretty woman, Cuchulainn noted. Her face was littered with freckles and her hair was bright red and long. She was thin and had small shoulders and small hips, but was very pretty.

Cuchulainn grinned as Damien blushed faintly and scratched at his longish pink hair. "Ah, seems m'wifey is raising hell. Eva will take care of you for now. Her husband'll come up soon enough to keep 'er company," he said. Then, he stood and waved before pulling out a coin and disappearing with a flash of light.

The woman, Eva, moved toward Cuchulainn and sat down on a chair that she had pulled over to his bed before leaning over and checking him over. "Seems you'll be all right. You've had quite a trauma to your system. We don't often get such terrible cases in here anymore."

"What do you mean?"

Eva shrugged and leaned back in her chair as she crossed her legs. They were thin, but very nicely shaped and were uncovered up to her knees. "Around here, you get used to people trying to invade, people trying to take over, people trying to just out right kill everyone. It used to be quite often that we'd get serious cases in these walls, but, since Tom took over as headmaster, we haven't really had any problems."

"Who is this Tom?" asked Cuchulainn, still eyeing her nice legs.

She grinned and chuckled. "You like legs, do you?"

"They're nice," he said, smiling at her. "Don't often get women who wear skirts as short as yours around my home," he said.

"Here it's a bit different. We keep up the old ways, as you would call them I expect." She nodded and then eyed Cuchulainn for a moment. "Tom is my mother's second husband. He used to be her adopted son, when he came back from wherever he had been sent to when he had died previously. He came back as a teenager and unable to remember much. He married a nice girl and they had many kids. I used to tease him a lot about it, but we all loved him dearly."

"He sounds nice," said Cuchulainn as he attempted to sit up again. This time he had managed it and sat against the pillows behind him comfortably.

"He is to an extent." She smiled faintly and leaned back again in her chair. "He's a good man and has protected this school for many many years with his very life. He's fathered many children and those kids are also fathers and mothers now. One of them married Damien, lord knows why." Cuchulainn chuckled at her joke as she smiled at him. "He's married to my mother now, after many years of torment between the two of them. They're happy now and that's all that matter. Now he's headmaster and anyone who even tries to do something nasty to the school or the children inside of it will end up on his own personal operating table as a 'patient'."

"Eh?"

"He has a…. a thing…for tormenting his victims through slowly dissecting them like a lab rat. Basically, he cuts them open while they're still alive and starts picking apart at their organs until they die," she said.

Cuchulainn cringed. It sounded like an activity that Arturia would enjoy, given her perverse nature. He wondered if she was still inside the forest for a moment before he grunted and glowered at the foot of his bed.

"The woman that did this to you is here, by the way. She was subdued by Tom and my mother into cooperating. They won't harm her unless she attempts to harm someone under their protection, ie, you." Eva sat up once more and sighed. "Since you're all right now, I'll be in the back summoning my husband. You get some rest, all right? Astra, Necia and Winry will work on you later when they get the pieces together that they need."

Cuchulainn nodded and leaned back against his pillows. He watched Eva leave and then watched the three women huddled together in their little table until he fell asleep. In his dreams, he saw Emer smiling at him as she always did before another woman entered his head and gazed at him with a dead look, Arturia.


	36. Chapter Thirty Five

_**A/N: Happy Halloween:3 I got dressed up in my medieval gown and a black cloak. :3 I was pretty.**_

_**Chapter Thirty-Five**_

This settled slowly in Hogwarts. The disturbance had subsided and the teachers kept their newcomers separated from each other until they could determine the best course of action. Amber kept an eye on Arturia as Astra kept to the side of Cuchulainn. Arturia would stay in her new room, which they cleaned out an empty classroom for her to use. Meanwhile, Cuchulainn spent the majority of his time in the infirmary where Astra and Necia were continuously working with Winry's supervision.

When Cuchulainn wasn't inside the infirmary, he was outside looking around at the world he had found himself in. Everything was as green as his home, greener even! They had large old trees and strange animals running around including a bunch of strange horses that looked black and scaly with large black wings that were leathery. In a large hut, he found a dark skinned man with red eyes and white hair working in a garden with a very busty woman who looked almost exactly like Astra, only her eyes were almost as red as the man's though they looked like fire rather than blood.

The dark skinned fellow looked up at him and pushed his dark colored glasses up his nose. He had only ever seen blind men wear such things in the past, though they were difficult to make in Ireland or Briton. Often, as he recalled, they were made in America where such products could still be made relatively easily. The rumor was that America had managed to save most of the old technology of there country and kept it hidden away so no one could use it for harm. He recalled seeing strange instruments that fired metal balls at people in the hands of the MacLeod clan and the Sinclairs at the battle of the line. Did they do similar and keep such things for themselves so they knew that they would not be used for wrong purposes?

The white haired woman looked to him and retreated back slightly, hiding. The dark skinned fellow had stood up by now and showed himself to be very tall and well muscled, broad shoulders in plain view and a strange X like scar over part of his forehead and down over his eyes. His right arm was decorated with a strange tattoo that looked both pretty and menacing as well. It stopped at a scar around his arm at his shoulder as if it had belonged to someone else and he was simply using it.

"Who are you?" asked the dark man as he glared at Cuchulainn from behind his shaded glasses.

Cuchulainn didn't find him too unfriendly, though he was cautious. He smiled at him and offered his hand. He was using a sort of stick like leg on his missing leg and had a strange metal thing over his shoulder that Astra had called an "automail port" for when he would receive his new arm. He had the same on his leg, which itched slightly under the metal. He was currently leaning on a crutch and was juggling leaning on the crutch and offering his hand to the dark skinned fellow in a friendly greeting. "I'm Cuchulainn of Ulster. I seem to be far enough from home. Smells like Scotland."

"It is," said the dark skinned fellow. He looked to his hand and then shook it before crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I am Scar. My wife is over there, her name is Honor. What brings you here, Cuchulainn of Ulster?"

Cuchulainn smiled faintly at Scar. "Not a clue. I was being attacked and then found myself here being taken care of in your infirmary. Nice place this is. Never seen it before."

"It is a magical place. They keep wards up all the time to keep intruders out so the children will be safe. If those don't work, **WE** keep them safe," he said, relaxing slightly.

The woman, Honor, moved out from her hiding place when it seemed she found Cuchulainn safe enough. He noticed she wore glasses, which were perched on her nose like a stuffy librarian would wear them. She eyed Cuchulainn for a moment and nodded her head toward him quickly. He noticed that she wasn't simply busty, she was **very**busty! The clothing she wore didn't help detract from this either. Her clothes were not simple, but not extravagant. Gold thread decorated a very tight foreign looking top that had sleeves that ended at her elbows and the bottom of the shirt ended above her navel. A long skirt covered her large hips and her legs that was also as decorated as her strange top and covered feet that were covered in foreign looking slippers of the same red color. Both of her wrists were covered in bangles and her ears decorated with gold earrings. It looked as though she were trying to look like she belonged in Scar's culture, though he doubted he was from anything in particular, for he had a very natural Briton feel to him. His accent, however, had a strangeness all its own, as if it weren't anything in particular. Perhaps he had been around the world several times and picked up dialects as he traveled?

In any case, the woman didn't look like she was trying to hide anything she had from the world, at least to Cuchulainn, though he had seen many women who wore such strangely cut clothing before. He bowed his head toward her and smiled his most charming smile to win her over. She only looked more skeptical and was it his imagination or did he see something that looked like bright fire flicker in her eyes?

"He won't hurt you, Honor," said Scar with a soft, gentle tone. His face had gone from the stern look he had given Cuchulainn to a very gentle one when directed toward his wife. He clearly loved this woman, for such a look could only come from caring deeply for another person.

Honor nodded slightly and smiled faintly at Cuchulainn, still clearly a bit defensive toward him. He wondered what sort of situation would have garnered such hostility toward a stranger in a woman so pretty. His own thoughts bit him in the ass as a revelation came at him. Such women were usually victims of some sort, usually of rape or beatings. She was a very lovely woman; he highly doubted her hostility came naturally and her husband didn't act like he would beat her.

"This place is amazing," he said in a softer tone, thinking to himself. He might like living here if he didn't have duties to attend to. He remembered Emer and his position as king and felt his heart clench.

"You look troubled," said Honor. "You should rest. My mother will attend to your arm and leg soon, I expect."

Cuchulainn eyed Honor a moment. So she was the daughter of that white haired elf? She certainly looked it! He smiled and nodded. "Aye, I should, but I wished to be in the open air. Please, tell me if you could of this place. I'm curious about it."

"What do you wish to know?" asked Honor. She pushed her glasses up her nose and straightened up, the broom in her hands looking like a staff rather than a broom now.

"About this place. Why is it so lovely here when there's a barren wasteland just south at the border. Why is this place here?" Cuchulainn had so many questions in his head, he wasn't sure he could ask them all.

Honor sat down on a bench and motioned for Cuchulainn to sit as well. Scar sat down on the ground next to Honor's legs and wrapped his arm around them, stroking them through her skirt gently. "This school has been around for far longer than you could possibly imagine. It was around a thousand years before my mother was born and has been rebuilt from the ground up by my mother and father, by my sisters and brothers, by my friends and the friends of my mother and father. We all rebuilt it after the first nuclear strike. However, I'm getting ahead of myself." She coughed and idly stroked Scar's hair as she thought.

"A thousand years ago, this school was created by the four founders. They created it because they wanted a place where they could teach young wizards and witches the craft that they would have otherwise only learned from other wizards and witches as apprentices and whatnot. The four founders are Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw. They each had their own idea of who should be let into their school, so Godric whipped off his hat and they each enchanted it so that it would decide who would join which founder's gathering to learn. Eventually, there was a falling out between the founders, however, the school remained and so the school continued to perform the task they had set it to. Teachers continued to teach and students grew up. Some witches and wizards are good, but sometimes, you get bad witches and wizards, just as you would normal humans."

"There was a great wizard who attempted to eradicate all of the non-magic people and the witches and wizards who were born from human families. Then, he suddenly disappeared one day, supposedly dead. The boy he had tried to kill was still alive and so the boy was forever famous. When the boy grew up, he defeated the wizard and the wizard was taken into a pair of doors where he was given the greatest of punishments… remorse. Years passed and my mother, who had been a friend of this boy as well as Amber, had become a dark wizard fighter. Because there are good witches and bad witches in the world, there was never an end to the dark wizards and witches that would routinely come to test their might against the likes of Hogwarts."

"My mother had joined Hogwarts' ranks after a while as the history teacher and started raising her children here after a while when she simply couldn't get any time to come to her home in Malfoy manor. When the boy had married and had children of his own, his children grew up and married as well and one of them, a girl named Lily, married a human and lived her life with that human until another dark wizard cropped up. He had pulled up the old lot of the former dark lord had given himself a new name. He used the crazy daughter of my mother from her marriage with her first husband and used her to kill any who decided to get in his way. When she killed Lily, he disappeared and her daughter Harriet was left with her father."

"One day, the doors that had swallowed up the dark wizard previously, opened up and a boy was let out. He fell in love with Harriet and protected her when things started getting really bad. When my mother killed my half sister, who was the crazy daughter, Harriet killed the dark wizard that had tried to kill the boy who was once the great Lord Voldemort in the past. They married and lived happily enough here in the school with everyone else. Eventually, another dark lord cropped up and my mother's first husband died. She remarried my father and the former dark lord Voldemort had lost his wife. He was then easily taken in by the new dark wizard and made his puppet. He used him ruthlessly against those he cared about. He was forced to kill Amber's first husband, Fred, and then forced to rape Amber. He was forced to put out one of his son James' eyes. He was forced to do many monstrosities that caused his mind to deteriorate. Amber had become pregnant and used the unborn child as a sacrifice to deal with a problem that saved the former dark lord."

"But the new dark wizard was a clever one, good with hallucinations and making people into his puppets not with spells, but with devices that could bend them to his will. He stole my mother and used her as a puppet before using her to bring back my half brother Edward to mate with her, to produce a child of great power that he could raise to become something far greater than anyone could have imagined. He forced a love potion on them and they did the deed and she became pregnant. Once more, the dark wizard was foiled in his plans and the pair escaped him, however, none could still catch him. By this point, Amber had given birth and raised a girl named Alana who was her child with Tom that she had sacrificed before. My aunt Avalon had given birth to boy and Tom had children left over from Harriet to raise. They all raised them up and found that Avalon's child was the embodiment of Death. When the new dark wizard came back, the angry part of Alana's soul manifested itself in the embodiment of Rage and so she left to join this new wizard, who was indeed very handsome, but cold hearted and uncaring. Death had always loved Rage, but was too afraid of what society would say about his loving his cousin to admit to her his feelings. So when Rage went off to the new wizard, his heart broke as he saw a glimpse of them having sex."

"When his father told him that it was all right to love her and that she really needed his love, Death manifested himself and went to Rage and calmed her and took her into his own bed for his own. The new dark wizard thwarted once more, he planned and schemed once again. However, his plan involved using another woman to make a child that he could use against everyone. His planned failed, however, for the woman he had chosen had the ability to use fire and bend it to her will and create it. She continuously incinerated the unborn child he would plant inside her before a man who had been given life once more had come to her aid and taken her away. This time, the dark wizard was unable to get away from his fate and was tormented before he was accosted by Honesty, Truth's replacement when he tried to come out of the gates of truth and cause the world to cease to exist. Honesty made the man into a child and let him grow up among us all in Hogwarts while the woman he had raped repeatedly took her rescuer as her lover and married him."

Scar blushed faintly and looked away as Cuchulainn smirked faintly. The woman could spin a good tale that was for certain! So she had been raped repeatedly by this dark wizard that she refused to name and married Scar after he had rescued her from this man's clutches.

"The child of my mother and my half brother was birthed and grew up. When Truth came out, he had caused a sort of scrambling of Death's order and all the dead came back to life as normal humans. When this occurred, many of the dead who had previously been in heaven, came back and found themselves uncertain as to where they should be. One was the first wife of my dad who was a gentle, kind woman. Another was the wife of Tom, Harriet, and the mother and father of my mother's first husband. My half sister Dierdre, as crazy as she is, came back and found happiness with another man who was dead. When Truth was destroyed and Honesty took over as the guardian of the gate and her husband, who was the embodiment of Famine, helped her, the scrambling of Death's order stopped and he took back those who were supposed to be dead. However, some asked if they could remain and so he allowed them to remain, but some never asked him and so he took them back anyway. One was my mother's first husband and the first wife of my father. My mother felt as though she were taking my father away from the woman he had loved so dearly in the past that she sacrificed her own life to allow the woman to live and remain with my father. So Death took her with her first husband and took her first husband's father and mother with him."

"At this point, the child of my half brother Edward and my mother had grown up considerably. He bargained with Death that he would give his arm to bring back mother and those who wished to come back. So, Death took his right arm and gave back life to my mother and several other people before sending my half nephew to the infirmary himself. We learned then that the boy was the embodiment of War and that Tom was the embodiment of Pestilence. The four horsemen of the apocalypse were manifested on the Earth finally."

She sighed and rubbed her head with a small movement and leaned back against the bench. "The humans found out about magicians and grew jealous and angry with magicians for hiding away their advances and their magic from the world, for taking away something that humans could use to simplify their world. So they made war on the magicians, but the magicians didn't want a war with humans, because a war with humans was a war with their fellows. The humans launched an attack on Hogwarts and destroyed her. The air burned and took many lives, but Death had the foresight to gather everyone into a bubble and heal their wounds and bring back those who had been separated from them. Honesty took care of the earth as Death took care of the people and then both dispelled the radiation from the air from the blast that had been delivered to us for no good reason. In a fit of rage, War went off and destroyed the bases of the humans so they could not launch another attack at them. Death, meanwhile, had asked of the creator to give him the ability to give life back into the land and so he was granted this ability and he gave it back to the land. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade were both destroyed. So, we began anew, bringing back Hogwarts ourselves as the four founders came to life and joined us in our efforts. Hogsmeade was built anew once more and those who had been saved helped bring back the town that was once the only wizarding town left in Britain."

Cuchulainn blinked at Honor. A great deal of what she told made little sense to him, but he took it at her word and nodded. "I see, so that is how you rebuilt this castle and how the war started?"

Honor nodded. "Yes. You could ask my mother about it as well, she's the historian here."

Cuchulainn nodded. "What of the wasteland? What is that?"

"Death could only give life to the land until the power granted to him ran out. This extended far south, but it did not extend all the way. The wasteland was what was left when nothing could grow in that land anymore. The humans that had lived there, the wizards that had lived there, they died from the explosion and those that lived did so at their own peril. The land is poisoned. That which grows from it now is poisoned to cause the people to become deformed and have several terrible and unusual medical problems. The water that can be found outside of the wasteland is also poisoned, but the years have made the radiation disperse and things grow naturally again. Tom made a force field that was very specific so that the inhabitants that refused to leave could come and go as they pleased, but no one else could come into it," she said.

Cuchulainn frowned faintly. So the monstrosities that Arturia rescued were people who had been protected to an extent by the head of these wizards. He had met Tom and talked with him briefly, but the man gave him a strange feeling. It was a similar feeling to Arturia when she spoke to him, as though he hid much underneath a great shell and was far more dangerous than he appeared to be.

His mind buzzed when he left Scar and Honor to whatever duties they had. The headmaster had been a former dark wizard, had killed many and hurt many more; he had died and come back to life, as had many. It was as though he were living in the middle of one of Amergin's stories. He recalled the songs Amergin would sing to him and the poems of warriors and tales of heroes. He recalled all this and more as he continued his way around the grounds and back into the castle. He remembered briefly the old song that Amergin had sung to him as a child about a great kingsword and the boy who could take it. It reminded him of something, but he wasn't certain what.

He spotted a dark haired man with pale skin and pointed ears not far off. His cloak was black and his hood was drawn up over his black hair. His black eyes were like holes in his head as he gazed at Cuchulainn.

"Who are you?" asked Cuchulainn.

"I am Death, but here I am born Donovan Elric. You may call me Donovan," he said, smiling faintly. "How do you like it here?"

"Well enough," said Cuchulainn, frowning faintly.

"I brought you here, Cuchulainn, because what was occurring would have likely killed you… and I know you can not die yet. You are far too important in this world to die yet," Donovan said softly. He pulled back his hood and nodded to Cuchulainn. "Both you and Arturia are too important to die yet."

Cuchulainn growled and jabbed his crutch at Donovan angrily. "Too important?! Then, what of my wife? Is she not important? Why would you bring me here, allow me to be like this when my wife could be living?! Why have you brought here the very creature that did this to me!?"

Donovan wasn't even fazed by the small assault. "I did so because you are both needed in this world. Emer was meant to die then and she willingly went up to the creator to watch over you in a place of peace and joy. Arturia, meanwhile, has many things that need to happen to her before she can be right again. You are one of those things that needs to right her."

Cuchulainn moved away from Donovan, grunting slightly. "I don't need to do anything for that woman! She's tried to kill me, she maimed me beyond recognition, and all because of what?!"

"You will need to ask that of her yourself, I will not give you the answer," said Donovan softly. "Arturia is a good woman at heart, just remember that."

Cuchulainn shoved past Donovan with a snarl. "I don't need to ask that woman anything. She's ruined me and I can not forgive her of it!"

Donovan watched silently as the crippled hero limped off to the infirmary. Soon the man would be learning how to use his new limbs and he would have to use them should he continue on the path he was on. Hogwarts had not seen the last of Arturia's wrath. She simply stayed silent and confined so that everyone could keep an eye on her and keep her out of trouble. It was convenient to stay silent for the masses. Should Cuchulainn not forgive her, should he continue to hate her for this, not that he could blame him for hating her now, things would become far worse than anyone could ever imagine.

* * *

Emiya stopped when he found old blood in the snow. There was a lot of it. When he dug in the snow, he found an arm and a leg. He found a crushed eyeball as well. A bloodbath had occurred here and he needed to get the queen before something terrible happened to either her or Camelot. With her gone, it was the knights who watched over the land with Merlin's aid. However, none of them could keep all the people in line like the queen could.

He stood up and looked around some more. He found where the tracks ended and touched the air where they disappeared. He felt nothing before him and frowned. How was he going to find his queen?

He decided the best course of action was to go home and try to stall until Merlin could find Arturia or Cuchulainn. Where one was, likely the other would be there. With that, he mounted his horse and headed home.


	37. Chapter Thirty Six

_**A/N: blah blah blah hope I didn't confuse ya'll too much.**_

_**Chapter Thirty-Six**_

Camelot moved along well enough. The knights watched over Camelot well enough and did as their queen would do to watch over the land. Merlin, meanwhile, had begun to worry greatly. Where had she gone off to? The knights were worried as well, for their queen was supposed to be in charge, not them!

A light caught Merlin's eye. His mirror was summoning him from his desk. He walked over and picked it up and looked into it. The image of Amber replaced his own and smiled faintly at him. "Hello, Merlin. It seems we have to talk once again."

Merlin nodded to her. "Hello, Amber. What news do you bring me, hmm? Is everything all right in Hogwarts?"

"Well enough, I suppose," said Amber with a sigh. "We had couple of people come in. I think Donovan may have brought them here, but he's not talking and they don't have a clue how they got here. One is named Arturia and the other is Cuchulainn. Do these names ring a bell?"

Merlin sat down and leaned back in his chair. "So my suspicion was right. She had gone off after him and she is at the school."

"Yes, and she attacked us too. We can't get her to talk to us. We've tried, but she simply remains silent and unresponsive. We put her in one of the empty classrooms until we know what to do with her. Cuchulainn is recovering from serious wounds and trauma. His arm was ripped off, his leg cut off and one side of his face is mauled and his eye missing. We're getting him some prosthetics to use, but it's taking a little bit to do, since Astra's only ever done the advanced stuff for Ed."

Merlin frowned deeply. Arturia had attacked Cuchulainn for running away and had attacked the teachers when she saw them, probably because she felt they were keeping her from her target. She really never was one for talking her way out of a situation. "I see. Thank you, Professor."

"Please use the portkey to come here as soon as you can, Merlin. We would like you to get a good look at what's going on and, if need be, take a message back to your people over there from Arturia. I'm sure the people are restless because of their queen's disappearance, but… we can't let her or Cuchulainn leave until we know they aren't going to start another great big nasty war that could potentially destroy everything over some stupid reason." Then, the mirror went blank and he saw his reflection in it once more.

Merlin stood up and picked up his Hogwarts portkey. Then, he waited the appropriate amount of time before he watched his surroundings disappear in a colorful display of light.

* * *

Tom looked up when Merlin appeared before him. He pulled out a pocket watch and gazed at it for a moment before snorting derisively. "That certainly took you enough time, Merlin," he said.

Merlin eyed Tom and smiled faintly. "It's good to see you, professor Riddle."

Tom stood up, his height like a giant to most everyone around him. Merlin wasn't that tall to begin with, however. The man had not aged one day since he was his professor back when Merlin was a child! His handsome face was as though he were stuck in time as a man of possibly twenty-five!

Tom held out a hand and shook Merlin's in greeting before walking out of the room they had been in and into the hallway. "This Arturia Pendragon is most interesting, Merlin. She's very similar to Avalon in her very silent demeanor."

Professor Avalon Elric was someone Merlin had few dealings with. She was the divination professor and tended to stay away from everyone. She hand picked her students and taught them in the art of divination only if she felt they had any potential. Another took on the task of teaching the masses that wanted to try their hand; a centaur that was in the employ of the school. He was always a chosen one from the small colony of centaurs living in the woods, sent as a sort of ambassador to Hogwarts to keep relations between the humans and centaurs on a decent level. After the small centaur rebellion a couple hundred years back, the professors of Hogwarts made a treaty to keep the peace so that both sides could live without too many problems. Their previous centaur divination teacher had died two hundred years prior, having lived for so long; none could tell how old he truly was. Firenz was an icon to those who came to take the job, as he successfully made peace with the humans and showed that both centaurs and humans could work together.

His dealings with Avalon Elric were few and far in between because she never felt he had any potential, or, if she did, she simply didn't feel like helping him. When she did, it was brutally without remorse. He knew he could prophesize to an extent, but her teachings were far too grueling for his stomach, so he learned on his own. Perhaps that was why she was so hard on him.

He also understood the comparison between Avalon Elric and Arturia. Avalon was known for being very quiet and reserved, of staying away from everyone save her own family because her gifts were so extreme that merely being in the same area as a human or an animal would cause her great pain. She would see the entire life of the person in the blink of an eye and feel it all as if she were the person. It was so extreme that you could hear her screams of agony from across the school if she made contact with someone who was either going to have a very bad life or had led a terrible life prior to meeting her. Yes, the comparison of Arturia and Avalon was quite accurate. Both wanted little to do with the outside world and hid behind a great frozen shell. Both barely said a word except what needed to be said to get their point across. Both could be alone and seem as though talking to them was intruding on their solitude. How Avalon's husband had managed to get through her thick shell and love her was a complete mystery to Merlin and now, as he thought of it, caused Merlin a bit of distress as his pupil quite possibly would never get married due to her unnatural antagonistic nature toward everyone.

"She's been doing very little except eating when we give her food and sitting silently with a book when she requests something to read. She won't tell us anything pertaining to what happened to cause her and Cuchulainn to come here and she won't tell us how she managed to get into this school in the first place, though I have a suspicion that I've yet to get proven." Tom turned a corner and pulled his wand out, he flicked it quickly and the door unlocked.

"It would take something outside of magic to get into this school," said Merlin, "This school has wards that even you have trouble dealing with."

Tom grunted softly and looked away, sulking a little. Merlin smirked faintly in amusement at his former headmaster. He was far too proud for his own good sometimes. "I apparate fine within the school and out, but from a long distance away it would be far more difficult," said Tom.

"And that is the key problem," said Merlin with a faint smile toward his former headmaster. "She and Cuchulainn had to be fairly close to Camelot for her to have caught up with him. That is too far to be able to apparate from there to here."

They walked into the room Tom had unlocked and in the center, sitting in a chair, was Arturia with a book in her lap. "This is a very strange book you have let me borrow," she said before glancing up at them. "Ah, Merlin, I see you have arrived. I need you to tell Emiya and my knights that it seems I can not leave this place for a while. Tell them I am vacationing or something."

Merlin frowned faintly at Arturia and walked over to her. "What did you do? Why have you come here?"

"I have already told these people several times, I don't need to repeat it again. I do not know why I have come here, but that I am here now and that is all I have to me now. Since it seems I can not leave, nor can I do anything else that I wish, I don't want my knights to think I have become imprisoned. The journey north alone would kill them all and I don't wish for an invasion." She spoke down at her book, not even looking up at him or acknowledging him other than to speak to him!

Merlin's patience was being tested once again. She didn't do it often, but when she did do it, it tried his will a great deal to keep from hitting her to get her to talk to him like a normal human being. "What did you do to make them think you need to be kept locked up?"

She sat silently with her gaze toward the book, but she did not turn a page, nor move her head. She was simply trying to look as though she was ignoring him to keep him from asking more of her.

"Arturia, I know you have attacked these people and you have attacked Cuchulainn. Why did you attack the man? I thought you liked him!" Merlin was rewarded with more silence on Arturia's end. He sighed and moved away. "I will tell your people that you have been detained from traveling for a while. Gawain will be worried, as will Bedivere, but as they are the most senior of your knights, they will run Camelot with my aid. Is that your wish?"

"Yes, Merlin," she said softly. Whatever the reason, her silence was a sign to him. Whatever had caused her rage was gone for now and replaced with a great emptiness that disturbed him.

He walked out and rubbed his face. Tom eyed him for a moment and closed the door behind him, locking it. "She's been that way ever since we forced her to stop trying to attack. I think it was because we were in the way of her original goal."

"What do you mean?" asked Merlin tiredly.

"She kept asking where her 'toy' had gone. When we referred to the great bloody mess of Cuchulainn, she asked us where we took him and when we wouldn't allow her to go through, she attacked to get through. At least, that's my take on it," said Tom.

Merlin sighed and looked away. Tom put his wand away in his robe and put his hands in his pockets. "What I don't understand is why she attacked him in the first place, why she would jeopardize her country like that. Why would she attack Ireland's king? What had he done to her that made her so angry that all her care for her own country flew away like a bird?"

"To answer that, you will have to ask her," said a familiar voice. Donovan Elric was in the hallway, his hood drawn up and gazing at them through his hair, similar to how his own mother tended to gaze at people.

"We have tried talking to her, Donovan, and it doesn't work," said Tom, looking rather irritated as he eyed Donovan.

"Then, you won't know. However, I will tell you this. It was I who brought her here, Mr. Riddle, but my reasoning is mine alone," said Donovan before disappearing.

Tom grunted in irritation before ruffling his hair. "That one is a great deal like his mother. All he lacks is the domination fetish."

Merlin smiled in a strained manner, remembering the screams of Avalon's husband echoing through the hallways whenever they had one of their little "alone times". Screams of "Mistress!" and "Lash me again!" were a common occurrence when it came to the hallway near Ravenclaw tower where their chambers were located.

Tom took him away to the infirmary where Merlin saw a man he almost didn't recognize. A relatively tall young man of possible twenty-five or so sat on a hospital ward bed. His oddly cropped blue hair was tied back as it usually was in the back, the top of his hair cropped shorter and left to look wild. His face was scarred on one side of it, covered by a black eye patch that was simply made. He was shirtless with a tattoo of a wolf or a dog snarling across his left shoulder and over his shoulder blade, many lines and swirls coming from it in a typical pattern seen among his own people, another tattoo on his arm with more swirls and lines ran down it to the middle of his forearm. Merlin was certain that if he had both arms, the other would be decorated with the same pattern in the same location. Unfortunately, the man did not. Instead, the man had a metal arm that looked like his arm was encased in some form of armor. He was wearing trousers and had his left leg hidden from him, as he had his back to him, though he could see the port of where he would have a metal leg like his arm. This man he saw in front of him had been the great hound of Ulster, the great hero of Ireland, Cuchulainn. Now, he simply didn't resemble the young man he had seen upon occasion, whose bearing was of a goodly gentleman soldier, used to being in the company of men on the field and in the company of women in bed.

"Lord Cuchulainn, I presume?" asked Merlin as he leaned on his staff slightly.

Cuchulainn turned at his name and attempted to look over his shoulder at him, but had to turn all the way simply because the eye was not present to look with. He smiled faintly and waved with his real arm before turning back. Merlin saw what the hero was trying to do and cringed internally at the thought. He was trying to pick up a ball, but his hand only moved so well and then stopped. The look of frustration on the hero's face was so disheartening that it made Merlin almost want to weep for the young hero. To lose a limb was a devastating infliction. To have to relearn how to do what you once knew you could do was beyond frustrating and tried the patience of the user to an extreme. Merlin had seen boys and girls who had lost limbs from failed battles against raiders and bandits, boys and girls who were either knights of Hogwarts or apprenticing for the job who had hearts as big as the world and wills of iron and steel, reduced to frustrated tears for days and depression for weeks because they simply could not work the prosthetics like they could their natural limbs.

Cuchulainn picked up the ball unsteadily and then dropped it. He caught it with his natural hand and threw it across the room with a snarl. Eva, one of the school's nurses since the days before the Great War, had to duck to keep from being hit. "Watch it! You almost hit me!" she shouted. She spotted Tom and Merlin after a moment and then smiled brightly before jogging over to Tom and hugging him. "Tommy!! How's my little Tommy, hmmm?"

Once again, Tom seemed to sulk silently as he was assaulted verbally with goofy pet names as though he were a child. "I'm not your little Tommy, Eva," he said a little more gruffly than he probably intended.

Eva giggled before moving away and slapping the back of Cuchulainn's head. "What have I said about throwing things in the infirmary, Cu? Now either behave or I have to be very nasty to you."

Cuchulainn looked away silently and gripped the bed sheets with his prosthetic hand. "I'm sorry," he said.

Eva sighed and patted Cuchulainn on the shoulder before transfiguring a cup into a ball for him. "Try again, Cuchulainn. I know it's difficult, but this is the only way you will be able to train yourself to use them. Astra, how's the advanced stuff coming?"

"Slowly," said the familiar white haired elf in the nearest corner to him. Merlin smiled faintly as he saw his old history professor. Her hair was pulled up and her hands were full with screw drivers and a soldering iron. "This shit's hard to reproduce, that's why I only do it for Ed, but I gave Necia the plans so she could do it herself. She had to go back home so she could tend to her kids and her customers, which leaves me to do this shit myself," she grumbled.

She pulled the goggles up on top of her head and looked over to Merlin. She grinned and ran over to him, hugging onto him tightly. She laughed as she stroked his hair affectionately. "My you look so handsome still," she said, smiling brightly at him still.

Merlin smiled warmly at his old teacher before nodding toward her. "And you look as pretty as you did when I left school at the age of seventeen."

Astra moved away from him and went over to Cuchulainn. "You don't need to think about it so hard, Mr. Cuchulainn," she said, her old American southern accent making Merlin feel as though he had come home.

"How would you know, hmm? You have two perfectly normal arms, lass," said Cuchulainn sullenly.

"I've got a husband whose been doing this a lot longer than you, honey, and I know he managed to work his limbs within a year. It was hard and he strained himself a great deal doing it, but he did it so he could get on his feet and work toward getting his arm and leg and his brother back to normal when they were only children," she said as she checked his arm. "The advanced arm and leg will give you feeling in your limbs again as if they were your natural arm and leg. However, this takes a great deal of time to make, since the materials have to be specially made. I'm not a blacksmith nor am I a neurosurgeon. Winry knows how to connect the nervous system and so does Necia, but one is dead and the other is away, so again, you'll have to wait on them. In the mean time, you've got these babies to work with and these are quite handy."

Cuchulainn grunted and shoved her away from him with the metal hand, not thinking about it as he did it. "Please leave me be," he said. He stopped and looked at his hand and blinked. "It did what I wanted."

"I told you it's not as hard as you think it is. Simply willing it to do what you want isn't going to make it move. Doing things without thinking is how you make it work, because you don't truly think about moving your hand to catch a ball or doing other things, do you?" She grinned at him and patted his shoulder before getting up. He caught her by the wrist and Merlin almost couldn't see her move her hand when she circled her hand and slipped her wrist from his hold. "Ah, sorry, old habits die hard," she said with a sheepish grin.

Cuchulainn smirked faintly and caught her hand instead and kissed it. "Thank you for working so hard on me and my stubborn self," he said.

Astra's ears turned pink before she giggled self-consciously and moved away. "Ah, it's not a problem!" Then, she nearly ran into the bed as she tried to make a quick get away.

Cuchulainn smiled faintly and went back to working on his arm. Merlin gazed at him for a moment nodded. "You were attacked by Arturia?"

Cuchulainn picked up the ball and started squeezing it. "Aye, she did this to me. Ripped me apart for no good reason."

Merlin frowned faintly. Arturia always had a motive for the things she did. She may not say what the reason was, but she would always have a reason for attacking someone or saying something. It wasn't in her nature to simply do something without thinking ahead.

"Donovan tells me that in order to know why she did this, we would have to ask her. Unfortunately, she's not very willing to speak and the teachers here wish to keep you and Arturia here until things are resolved," said Merlin softly.

Cuchulainn grunted and squeezed the ball so hard that he crushed it. He eyed it a moment and tossed it over his shoulder. Astra walked over to him and kneeled down in front of him. "This is going to hurt, Cuchulainn," she said as she held up a prosthetic metal leg.

He braced himself and let her hook the contraption into the port on his leg. He grunted and twitched for a moment before sagging. She stroked his hair a moment before walking off back to her little table. Cuchulainn stood up slowly and wobbled for a moment before taking a few steps. "This one is easier than my arm," he said.

"That's because walking is more of a necessity than your hands are," she said, "You do it more naturally than you do working with your hands."

Cuchulainn nodded and started walking slowly around, limping as he did so. "Hurts a bit still," he said.

"It'll go away with time," she said softly, watching him. "It is the correct length, so it can only be the pain and the odd feeling of using something that isn't naturally a part of you that would cause you to limp."

Merlin leaned on the wall for a moment as he watched the Irish king walk. "I need to go back so I can relay Arturia's message to her people. Do you wish me to give a message to yours, Lord Cuchulainn?"

Cuchulainn stopped and scratched his cheek for a moment, looking away. "Aye, tell them that I'm mouring my wife alone and that Fergus is allowed back in Ulster and to rule Ireland as my steward."

Merlin raised his eyebrows at Cuchulainn. After a moment, he nodded and smiled faintly at the Irish king. "Very well, your majesty." Then, he walked out with Tom back to where the portkeys were kept.

Meanwhile, Cuchulainn was left to think about what was happening. If they couldn't get an answer from Arturia, then what on earth made them think **he** could? He had given the woman what she had wanted and left to go see to his wife. Then, she came after him and nearly killed him. What devil had possessed her to do this when he had done everything she had wanted?


	38. Chapter Thirty Seven

_**A/N: mmmmmmmm I'm a vampire on Gaia and I'm drinking a red drink. Something about this is wrong. . Here's to staying at my new house!! WOO!**_

_**Chapter Thirty-Seven**_

Cuchulainn gazed at the oak door in front of him. Behind it was the one person he least wanted to see and behind him was the way to walk away. However, he needed to know what it was that had caused the little queen to go mad. He had his suspicions, but without it from her mouth, he could not say they were real.

He unlocked the door and limped in slowly, listening to the metal leg move with strange noises, though supposedly noiseless. He closed the door and looked around the darkened room. Had she been let out?

On a small bed lay a small figure. He walked over and moved the curtain aside to see Arturia sleeping soundly under her covers. She was more than likely naked under there, as would be normal for her. A small part of him wanted to peek, but the rest of him staggered backward in revulsion. Now was not the time to treat her as he would any other woman!

She mumbled and turned onto her back, rubbing her eyes before looking over at him. She blinked and sat up slowly, holding the sheet to her body in what modesty she had left to her. "Cuchulainn?"

Cuchulainn moved back and looked away. "Don't know why I'm even in here," he mumbled. He honestly didn't want to stay in there for long, for he could still feel something bubbling up inside him from their time together and many meetings they had had over the years.

She remained still and watched him, brushing her hair from her eyes. "You are here, therefore, you must have a reason to be," she said.

Cuchulainn moved to a chair and sat down, groaning before rubbing his aching leg. It still hurt near the port, but not as much now. He wasn't used to the extra impact on his hip that the limb brought him as well. He sighed and ruffled his hair before leaning back in his seat.

Arturia continued to watch him with her doll like mask placed on once more. She barely even blinked as he gazed at her through his lashes. "Why did you attack me?" Her silence was the one thing he had come to expect from her, however, she also tended toward being brutally honest. "If you don't say anything, how am I to know why you tried to kill me, hmm?"

She simply watched him, her gaze somehow hollow and empty instead of the familiar frozen look of cold assessment that she always wore when dealing with others. He frowned as he tried to interpret the look she had upon her face as she only gave silence for an answer. Hollow and empty were sad emotions. Something he had done had saddened her? How could he have? He gave her everything she wanted and she tried to kill him for it!

He grunted and stood up, walking over to her. "You will tell me what it is that's going through that damn head of yours! I'm tired of you being so silent! I can't get a word out of you when it matters the most!"

"If you don't know, then I will not tell you," she said, suddenly looking very angry. She turned immediately and started to lie down again.

Cuchulainn's patience was wearing extremely thin. He grabbed her wrist and shoved her onto her back, moving over her so she wouldn't turn away from him again. He gazed at her coolly and laid on her as he would have had he wanted to seduce her. Her eyes were wide and surprised. At least that was better than the frozen mask she always wore! "You kidnapped me, you took me in as a slave for your pleasure and I pleasured you to the best of my ability given how you seemed to think chaining me up constantly was a good idea. I did what you wanted and you informed me that my wife was dead. There is nothing more between us, Arturia."

"Then, get off me," she said, her tone finally chilling more than normal. She was angry! She shoved him off her with the strength of a man and turned over; pulling the sheets over her body with finality that left him little guessing room as to the conversation being over.

He snorted and moved to the door, stopping as he touched the handle. His thoughts muddled once more as he remembered how happy she looked when he took her that last time in her own bed. He remembered the moments when she whimpered like a baby and the times when she cried out in her dreams. Why did he feel as though a part of his chest was being stabbed and wrenched out when he remembered those moments? They weren't important and relevant to anything other than the moment he shared with Arturia. They were special for the moment, but had quickly lost their luster and left him in the dark.

He glanced over to Arturia's back and saw the familiar curve disappear under the sheets. He started to walk back over to her, but stopped himself in an instant and walked out quickly. He was as mad as she was for still wanting her!

When the door closed, Arturia curled up and hugged herself. She never cried, not even when she was a child. However, she felt as though she should now, for the pain in her chest had increased exponentially. With the hope of her dreams blackening her mind to her thoughts, she attempted to sleep to forget the constant stabbing pain in her heart.

* * *

Emiya returned to Camelot, riding down the main thoroughfare toward the castle. The people came out to see him riding past on his black horse at breakneck speed. When he gave the horse to the stablehands, he ran up to the castle and went straight up to Merlin's tower.

"Merlin! I need you to find Queen Ar—," the words died in his throat as he saw Merlin talking into a mirror.

"Yes, thank you Fergus. Tell the king's advisors that they still owe me a decent story as to why the dragon appeared where my wife was when she was a teenager, but don't be too menacing about it. That's my territory. Just keep things quiet until I can get both to come back home," said Merlin.

A man's voice came from the mirror, his accent definitely Irish. Was it the hero Fergus that had once ruled Ulster? Emiya stood watching Merlin for a moment before the man acknowledged him.

"Sorry, Emiya, had to attend to some business. Arturia is fine, she's staying inside Hogwarts for now along with Lord Cuchulainn," said Merlin as he stood up. "Cuchulainn has appointed his foster father Fergus as the steward of Ulster. He's taken it up, though it took some convincing on my part. I only pray he doesn't bring that awful woman over just because he needs to bed someone."

"They are in your school?" asked Emiya, slowly taking it all in.

"Yes, they are. I just hope they resolve whatever problems they have soon, because we can't handle a war against the Irish," said Merlin softly, looking away. "It would be suicide."

Emiya frowned straightened. "I want to go to where her majesty is," he said.

Merlin eyed Emiya for a moment before walking over to him. "They are being held there because she caused some serious trouble and they don't want Ireland or Briton to go to war over it. The teachers at my old school are good people who have been dealing with such things most of their lives simply out of necessity. I wouldn't worry too much for Arturia's welfare for now, Shirou. For now, you should stay here until I get word from Arturia herself that you need to come."

Emiya looked very uncomfortable. He didn't like Merlin calling him by his name, that was something for someone else to do, but not him. He knew Merlin did it out of affection toward Emiya, but could not stand the thought of a man saying his name when he only wanted one woman to say it just once without her typical glare.

Merlin left him to his thoughts and walked out of his chambers to go announce to the knights any form of excuse as to their queen's disappearance. Because she had not been as forthcoming with an excuse as Cuchulainn had been, he was left to make up something as he walked up to the training grounds where they most likely would be. Emiya was behind him, he noticed, keeping back a ways to just watch him. Merlin was certain he did it out of habit, since he had no assignment to either gather information from Merlin or the knights while Arturia was gone.

Gawain looked up and ran over to Merlin quickly. "Merlin! What news do you bring for us on my cousin running off so fast?"

Bedivere joined him and wiped his forehead with the stump of his missing hand. "We saw her ride out at breakneck speed, Merlin. What had caused her to leave?"

"Don't you know?" Agravaine was just now walking over with a sneer toward his comrades. "The queen had herself a little sex slave and he ran off on her to go back home. She went after him because she fancied the poor fool."

Bedivere shot Agravaine a dark look and turned to Merlin. "Is this true?"

"Partially," said Merlin, frowning deeply at Agravaine.

"The person she brought was the Irish fellow, wasn't he?" asked Gawain. Merlin sighed, and nodded, causing Bedivere and Gareth to shout in anger and Agravaine to sneer even more. Gawain growled and threw his glove at Agravaine's head. "All of you, shut up! Just because she brought over the Irish fellow and chose to keep him around for a while and ran off to find him doesn't mean anything other than that has occurred."

Bedivere, who was now getting over the shock, nodded toward his friend. "Gawain is right. We were chosen for our loyalty to her and our bravery and our leadership. We are here in case she can not rule herself as much as we are here to plan and judge with our queen and even fight and lead battles."

"The little queen wants some o' that Irish cock and not afraid to get it," said Agravaine with a snort. "Dirty little buggars, the lot of them."

Merlin eyed Agravaine with a look akin to an ice burg. "My wife was Irish, by the way," he said. Agravaine looked like he was about to say something more, but Merlin held up his hand. "Enough, I don't want to hear it. The point of this is that we are left to cover for our dear queen until whatever mess she has brought upon herself is closed and she comes back home. Until then, we are to tell the people that she went off the way she did because she heard someone was attacking from me while I was gazing into my crystal. We'll send a group out tomorrow for a much needed holiday and come back a few days later with the explanation that we can't find her. North of here, it is very easy to get lost and most only travel by the roads. Lose the road, you lose your way and this ghastly landscape has the ability to hide people very easily. Also, the villagers know that there are creatures out there that will lead a person astray and those that will eat travelers who have lost their way. She's a hearty little girl, but even she can get lost. The people will believe it and pray for the safe return of their queen."

Bedivere nodded and looked to Gawain. Gawain held an odd expression, stern and stony. "You hear that, lads? Our queen is lost; let's go see if we can find her!"

Bedivere blinked for a moment before he realized that they were still in the training area and men were watching the knights converse with the wizard advisor of the queen. He took this in and started ordering the men to rally up and get to their horses to send out people for a lot of search parties.

The men went out in parties of six. Each party held at least one of the knights to lead them. Despite the order going against Merlin's order a day early than he had told them, it made more sense to shove off as fast as possible. It would look as though they didn't care for their queen if they had waited and Gawain knew this. He and Bedivere were the closest to Arturia and the first to join her as her knights. They were the most loyal to her and were the most willing to do whatever it took to get her back.

When the men came back, they came back empty handed with no evidence as to where she had disappeared. The people whispered that some great ghost made of spirits of the men who she had slaughtered had taken her away to punish her. Others said it was a demon who took her because he fancied her. Whatever the reason, she was not there for the time being and that was that. Until she came back the ones in charge were the knights and Merlin. One thing was for certain however… the demon pet Emiya would not come for them in the night because of a perceived offense.

* * *

Fergus rubbed his temples and looked to the wizard advisors that had served Conochbar, had informed his wife that Conochbar would be a great king should he take the throne from him and Fergus would be shoved out from his throne. He didn't really care for the throne, truly, though. He didn't like the limitations put onto him by taking the position of the leader of a people. Such a thing was what Conochbar wanted and what Conochbar's mother had wanted. Now, Conochbar was dead and he was back in the role as leader of a people, but because their true leader, their true hero, was gone and mourning the loss of his wife.

Cuchulainn was many things, but he was not a mourner unless he truly cared for a person so much that he could do nothing but mourn their loss. Generally, his take on death was that it would claim him sooner than most and he would live life to the best of his ability and get all the pleasures of it in before Death finally came to claim him. He knew he was going to die young and he welcomed it. He married, he drank, he smoked a bit, and he loved; what more in life could he want besides an heir?

That was something Cuchulainn never spoke of, however. As far as Fergus knew, the lad had not had a boy with his wife. He had had a pair of girls, but they were still very young, not more than five and three. Emer only managed to keep up with them because the other women loved Cuchulainn so that they were willing to help raise his children, even if they weren't their own. They were a piece of him and that was enough. Emer had welcomed this and, as far as Fergus knew, was not jealous of the women Cuchulainn could claim to have fallen into bed with. It was while he was away from her and he was sure that was her consoling thought.

And now she was dead from a brutal assassination that made it look as though Maeve had bought someone off to kill Emer. Fergus knew this was not true and sought to make sure that this was known. However, whoever had killed her had jumped out the window and disappeared entirely. No trace of the weapons could be found save an arrowhead of Connacht's making. Not even a hair could be found!

The two girls he could hear whimpering for their mother and father. He could understand why Cuchulainn had gone off like he had, he got landed with a job he didn't want, and then had disappeared entirely in order to get away from it while he could. He probably even forgot to tell his wife what he was doing. He was certain he had been near enough to home to have heard of his own wife's death and went off again in a deep depression. The wizards of Hogwarts were a clever lot and had probably found him and given him a home until he could face his people once more as a king rather than a hero.

With these thoughts churning in his head, he walked over to the two girls who were whimpering for their parents. A maidservant was attempting to console them, but it was no good. When they saw him, however, they ran to him. "Granpa Fergus!" cried the little five year old. She hugged onto his leg and cried into his leg as the little three year old ran over to join her sister. Fergus smiled and kneeled down and picked up the two girls into his strong arms. They were both quite small for their ages, just like Cuchulainn had been while growing up. One had pretty brown hair and the other had blue like her father. Both, however, had his eyes, red as blood and shaped like a devil's.

"Da's not coming back, is he," asked the five year old. He didn't know either girl's name, so he simply waited until they spoke to him, generally.

"He will when he's ready," he said, smiling faintly as he stroked her brown hair. "Your mam died and he must have found out because an old friend of ours told me that your da's been found in their home and being well cared for while he mourns the loss of your mother."

The three year old snuggled into him and curled up, her blue hair a wild mass pulled back into a braid. He sighed and walked with them in his arms as he sang to them tales of his own exploits as well as their father's. When they were asleep, he went to their room and placed them into the bed their father had slept in so long ago. Then, he sat down and watched them sleep, thinking things over in his head. Things were far more complicated than he could ever have imagined.

* * *

"All right, I want to know what happened from your side, okay, Cu?" asked Amber.

Cuchulainn was sitting on a chair in the middle of a room next to Arturia's that the good people of Hogwarts had lent him. It was because he had healed enough to leave the infirmary. He liked the room a bit. It wasn't very extravagant, but it had a nice lived in feel to it. He noticed a bit of graffiti on the wall and snorted faintly at it. This was certainly a former classroom!

"What happened to you? Start at the earliest part and go until you reached here. Anything might have occurred to make Arturia get on you like that," said Astra.

Both women were watching him, though Amber was more assessing and Astra looked more compassionate about the interrogation. Judging by their demeanors, he figured it was the opposite on the inside, that Amber was the one being concerned and Astra the one coldly assessing the situation, though his prior dealings with Amber told him otherwise. The woman was similar to Arturia; cold and calm, ready to dissect a problem until she could solve it. Astra seemed more like she would sit and constantly work away at the problem until she found something that worked and continued it until it did work.

"I was at a party, a celebration in honor of my coronation as king of Ireland," said Cuchulainn as he leaned back in the chair. "I've always admired strong women, you see. My wife had her own strength to her, the women I've loved in the past had strength in them as well." He scratched his cheek a moment and shrugged slightly. "I've never really had much in the way of a problem loving another woman while married to Emer, because I typically wasn't around Emer at the time it occurred."

Astra's face fell to that of a suspicious glare. Amber's face didn't break, however. She continued to watch him carefully, nodding to him. "Go on…"

Astra mumbled and rubbed her face. "No saints, no saints," she murmured to herself. Cuchulainn wondered why she mumbled it before he decided to go on as Amber requested.

"The celebration had many guests from Ireland. I invited some people from Wales and invited Arturia," said Cuchulainn softly. He gazed at the floor at Amber's feet for a moment before continuing. "I was just trying to talk to Arturia for the first time in a very long time. She seemed very receptive toward me, even blushed a little from my verbal coaxing. I've long suspected she was quite taken with me, but she's very calculating in her moves. If she desired me, it was pure impulse and little else. She would gain nothing from trying to take me."

"Anyway, as I coaxed her, Emer came 'round and I enjoyed being with my wife while the little queen simply disappeared into the crowd. I tried to follow her, but I couldn't find her. Instead, I got a one way ticket to Briton by the hands of the lackey that Arturia keeps around." He frowned faintly in thought before continuing, stroking his chin. "He had trouble trying to keep me asleep during the journey. You see, I've always been too strong for most potions and a sleeping potion only puts me to sleep for about an hour. Well, whenever I woke up, I would try to escape, so I ended up getting shoved into a bag that limited my sight and my movement something awful."

"I woke to find myself in chains," he said as he looked to Amber. "I was chained to the wall near the bed in the queen's bedchamber. When she came back, I was happy enough to see her, but confused as to why she wanted me in chains. I found out that first night she came back that she wanted sex from me. She would come to me almost every night and sit upon my lap and take me or do things with her mouth." He grunted and looked away, cheeks going pink. "I responded to her as well as I could, but she left me little room to do much. For several weeks I stayed like that, chained to her wall and used as a sex slave. Then, she told me my wife was dead. So, I devised a plan to get out."

"I waited until she came to me in the night. I let her coax me and everything and convinced her to let me go so I could pleasure her. She relented and I did so and then I left. I thought I had done a thorough job of satisfying her, but she came after me and did this to me. Then, we both disappeared and there you have it," said Cuchulainn.

Astra rubbed her temple as she eyed him, Amber, meanwhile, looked scathingly at him. "You mean, this could all have been avoided if you thought with your head instead of what's up your fucking kilt?" she said in a somewhat chilling tone. "You're an idiot!" She slapped him hard and then moved back to Astra's side with an irritated snarl.

Cuchulainn blinked in surprise at the sudden assault. "What do you mean?! I did what the stupid woman wanted, what gave her the right to come after me like that and rip me apart?!"

"She fancies you something crazy, that's what," said Astra, her tone very dry. "And you gave her everything to make her think you wanted her as well. You let her have sex with you; you even promised more should she do as you ask. That alone would make any woman think you were accepting them," she said.

Cuchulainn looked away again and crossed his arms in front of his chest, sulking slightly. That was what he had feared and refused to listen to. If they were right, if Arturia had come after him because she had felt jilted, he had done a fairly terrible wrong to her. However, she had done worse by what she had done to him!

"Please leave me alone now," he said.

Astra stood up and walked out, Amber stayed a moment to look at him one last time. "Ask her if she loves you next time," she said, "I'm sure she might not say a word, but it's worth a try."

"Why should I? I don't want her," he said, sneering at Amber.

"Then, make that clear!" Amber snapped. Then, she walked out of the room and closed the door.

He didn't need their permission to do as he wished! He did all he wanted because he wanted to live life in whatever direction it pulled him to, not to satisfy one little woman who happened to rule an entire country!

He stood up and walked to the door, walking out into the hallway. Arturia's door was locked to keep her from doing anything more. He didn't care. He was going to find the prettiest girl he could find and snog the life out of her on that woman's door, just for being the bitch he claimed her to be! Then, he walked off to do just that.


	39. Chapter Thirty Eight

_**A/N: I just got Winamp so I could use my Saber and Lancer skins on it. . I've got it set on Lancer at the moment and he looks irritated. If anyone has a better lancer skin, do tell me or send it to me! I may just get rid of winamp if I find it too bothersome. Also, I'm listening to Braveheart, so maybe that's why he's giving me this rather irritated look. XD **_

_**Lancer: w oioi I'm Irish, damn it!**_

_**Me: Irish, Scottish, what difference is there? Ya'll are the same damn people!**_

_**Lancer: ;: grunts and sulks:: w**_

_**Anyway…**_

_**Never said he was the most mature person on the planet. . **_

_** . :: pets Lancer so he won't sulk anymore::**_

_**Lancer:: grin::**_

_**Chapter Thirty-Eight**_

The knights watched over the lands as well as they could. The people seemed happy enough. The knights were like the knights of old legends, valiant and kind hearted, hardworking and intelligent. They worked hard to make certain that the people were well cared for. As the days wore on, the lack of their queen made people nervous and others bold. Some would even go up to the knights and make demands as to how things should be done. The knights would end up having to send them back with nothing and then the people would start to plot about the knights.

"We need Arturia back," said Gareth as he looked on at the people throwing them dark looks of resentment.

"I agree, little brother," said Gawain. "We need to also get us a few new men to fill ourselves out. Without Aunty Arturia here, we can't actually recruit anyone…. Unless…"

"I have an idea," said Bedivere. He smirked to himself at his plot. "Let's hold a bit of a show… a gauntlet for men to test themselves upon so that we might better judge who should join our ranks. Then, we can have Merlin send word on to the queen and she can choose."

"The people would like a good show like that," said Agravaine, nodding in approval. "But aren't we in charge until she gets back?"

"That doesn't mean we should keep her totally out of the loop, Agravaine," said Bedivere with a small amount of exasperation. "We should still keep her updated, even if she can't be here."

"I agree," said Merlin as he walked up behind the men. They turned to look at him and stopped. He smiled as he leaned on his staff, long, dark blonde hair was lifted by the wind and flew around his head a bit, showing the gray that generally seemed to hide in his hair as the long locks wafted in the wind. "I'll help set it up, if you wish. I can even record it for her so she might watch it herself. Then, we'll post announcements around our part of Briton so men from all over may come and join."

Bedivere smiled at the wizard and nodded. "Excellent planning, Merlin!"

Gawain grinned and propped his fists on his waist. "Indeed! Let's do that and watch the people actually enjoy themselves for once!"

And so the knights and Merlin set about pulling off their scheme. They sent messengers around Briton and into Wales so that the bravest men possible could come to test their mettle. Many men showed up in Camelot. The ladies of the town eyed the young men and flirted outrageously with them, the men cheered the men coming in before becoming jealous at the attention that was being taken away from them. All the while, Emiya kept his distance from everyone. He occasionally snuck into Merlin's chambers and rifled through his things, but never found what it was that allowed Merlin to get to where Arturia was. He would place things back as they had been before he had walked into the room and leave when he couldn't find what he wanted and went up to the queen's chambers to sleep or read.

Emiya was becoming very tired of waiting for Arturia to come back, when it seemed obvious that she was needed. He was also very tired of the thought of that great blue haired oaf being the object of her affection, but he didn't contest it. He had nothing to stand on status wise and the woman needed her status or else all of Camelot would fall to someone else. She had worked very hard to gain the affection of her people and then watched as the people continued to despise her for being a woman in the position of a man and for getting harsher with them for the ways in which they would ridicule her position and endanger it.

He sighed and lay down in Arturia's bed. He could still smell her perfume in the sheets and pillows. He could also smell another man's scent, but the pillow had been thrust off the bed long before then. He nuzzled into the soft linen and feathers of the pillow with Arturia's smell on it and rested; dreaming of things that he knew would never come to pass for him. Of being Arturia's husband and fathering children with her, of living a normal life without the strain of being an assassin, without the glaring eyes of the knights who hated him for his subservient attitude and unfaltering loyalty to Arturia. That was what he dreamed. But it was a dream and he knew it. He would never have such fine things in his life and was accustomed to it now. All he needed now was to have Arturia back where she belonged so he could continue with his existence.

He lived for the queen. He would die for the queen.

* * *

Arturia was let out of her room when it seemed she was exhibiting good behavior. She took to sitting quietly outside and listening to the birds, watching students chase each other and play games, girls talking to each other and giggling when boys would come near, watching boys laugh and joke with one another. She seemed very happy doing this. When the teachers would watch her, they would wonder why it was that she enjoyed watching them so much. Tom had an idea, but he didn't have any proof, for the woman didn't really show any sort of emotion.

However, that peace was not to last, he was certain of it. The fight between Cuchulainn and Arturia had been stopped before it could be finished and blood was going to be spilt again because of this. Things weren't resolved and they would remain that way so long as both continued to not communicate.

Cuchulainn was getting stronger with his arm and leg, also. He was so much faster at learning the things than anyone he had ever seen. Edward even pointed out that that was not quite normal. Cuchulainn even took to flirting with the seventh year girls when he was practicing. It was as though he was trying to show off this in front of Arturia, for he would do it generally when he was in front of her or in plain sight. Astra might come out and shoo them off, but not generally, since most of them were of age to leave school should they wish it.

"Aww, but they seem to be enjoying themselves, aren't you ladies?" said Cuchulainn with a smooth grin toward the white haired half elf.

Astra flushed scarlet and then eyed him tiredly. "Cuchulainn, practice or do whatever it is you want, but if you take one of these girls to do whatever with her, I'll skin you alive. Girls, if you so much as try, you'll get a worse fate than him."

"But that's not fair!" cried one.

"We're adults now! We can do what we want!" cried another girl.

Astra shot them a hot glare. "You're still in this school and thus under OUR protection, that means you're still under MY ruling. Get it? Got it? GOOD. Now buzz off!"

Tom watched from a short distance away, Amber leaning against his side with her arms wrapped around his waist. "Do you think we should stop her?" he asked. He wouldn't have stopped her even if he cared. Stopping Astra was like stopping a bulldozer.

"Eh, let her alone. She knows what she's doing and the girls are getting too bold lately. One decided to point out that she's an adult now and thus didn't need to be listening to a teacher who looked only a couple years older than her," said Amber.

"What did you do?"

"I told the girl that if she wanted to continue learning, she had better sit back in her chair and listen or I would make her life a living hell," said Amber before smirking. "She's got living hell now."

"You should have been put into Slytherin," said Tom, snorting as he stroked his wife's hair.

Amber chuckled and nuzzled against the hard chest of her husband and rubbed his stomach. "I'm a Gryffindor through and through and you love it." Tom snorted again and Amber laughed once more as she rubbed his stomach.

Meanwhile, Astra was shooing off the girls that had surrounded Cuchulainn. When they were all grumbling and moving off, she sighed and wiped her forehead before rounding on the blue haired hero. "Don't do that anymore, okay? It'd bad enough that they trail after Ed and Draco and Hohen or Tom… we don't need them going after you when all you're gonna do is toss 'em off when you're bored with them."

Cuchulainn leaned close to Astra and smirked faintly. "Oh, really, you think so poorly of me?" She flushed scarlet once again and leaned away from him. "Mmmm and you have a nice blush to your cheeks. Makes you even lovelier than before."

Astra stared at him, entranced as he lazily roved over her with his eyes and settled on her face after a moment. She broke it, however and moved away quickly, breathing hard. "Stop that! I've got three very needy men and I don't need a **FOURTH**."

Cuchulainn laughed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You sound a bit like the rumors of Queen Maeve. She has to have seven men in bed with her before she's satisfied, or one time with my foster father Fergus to satisfy her."

"It isn't because I can't be satisfied!" Astra snapped. "It's because one of them died and then the other I couldn't very well forget! I would have been fine with just one, but fate threw me some pretty dirty tricks."

Cuchulainn eyed Astra with great interest, much to her dismay. Not far off was a lone black clad figure of Arturia sitting on a bench and watching silently. He flicked his eyes toward her and snorted, grabbing Astra's hand and pulling her close to him. She yelped and shoved at him with far greater strength than he had ever encountered in a woman before, even one as broadly set as she was. He had difficulty performing his task whenever she shoved at him or indeed hit him with her fist.

He grabbed one of her wrists and held it fast. She was very slippery and hard to hold onto, much to his dismay. He leaned closer and gazed into her eyes. She stopped fighting so hard and stared at him much like a scared deer. He smiled charmingly and continued to hold her wrist in his hand. "I meant what I said. You are very lovely, Astra. I could imagine meeting you on my travels and finding my head so turned that I forgot where I was supposed to be."

Astra's ears went red to follow her face and her gasped when he pushed her large chest into his. "Stop it, please," she said, once more trying to steel herself against his charms.

He smirked faintly and leaned down slightly, barely brushing his mouth against hers. He watched her as her eyes slipped closed and she tried to lean away from him. He grinned and leaned more into her and kissed her. She snarled and shoved at him once more, breaking his grip on her and moving as far from him as possible. He didn't have long to find the flushed look on her face amusing, however. He was thrown back by a very hard fist hitting his jaw.

Edward Elric stood straight and flexed his right hand. "She said no, you bastard!"

Astra attempted to keep what dignity she had to her as she walked over to Edward and kissed his cheek. His face went bright pink before he grinned deviously. Astra rolled her eyes and flicked his forehead, knocking him back a bit. "Don't give me that look. I know what's going through that head of yours, midget."

Edward snorted and pulled Astra down to him. "Oi, dog! Learn something here. Don't try to take what belongs to someone else or we all take our time stringing you up for Tom's amusement. This woman especially is off limits!" Then, he kissed Astra for a moment and smiled at her. "To disinfect you," he said.

Astra smiled faintly and rolled her eyes. Cuchulainn flexed his jaw and eyed Edward. He shrugged and leaned back against the tree he had hit. "I like a good woman like any other man, I appreciate the finer ones, though."

Edward grunted and took Astra's hand with his. Astra smiled faintly at Edward for a moment before turning to Cuchulainn and flicking her gaze to the bench she had seen Arturia sitting at before. It clicked in her head what he was doing.

"Don't play such stupid games, Cuchulainn. You'll do more damage than good," she said softly.

Cuchulainn looked away, sulking slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Astra sighed and walked off with Edward beside her. This was not the end of this, she was certain of it. He more than likely wouldn't come after her again, but Amber might also get his interest.

When they left, Cuchulainn rubbed his face and glanced over to where Arturia was. She still sat silently, watching him with those gold eyes of hers that were as hard as rocks. She turned away after a moment and stood up, walking into the school. He watched her go and closed his eyes, rubbing his face again. "What is wrong with me?" he muttered to himself.

She had betrayed him by trying to kill him. He had given her everything she could possibly want except staying with her and she tried to take him apart piece by piece. Yet, still, something inside him always fell back to her. It was as though she were Emer. He remembered the first time he had ever laid eyes on Emer. When he had seen her he knew that he would marry her one day. It was a given for him. Every day that passed, he tried to woo her and only received riddles instead. However, she seemed intrigued by him still. Her father didn't want him marrying her, however. It was probably for a good reason. He wasn't faithful to her; he roamed a great deal and left her with two children to care for. As he recalled his daughters, a stab of pain shot through his heart. In all the mess, he had forgotten his poor daughters who probably were scared out of their minds!

But it was no use. For now, he could only be in this school. He could only think of Emer and how she must have felt when he had disappeared. How he had forgotten her during his time in Camelot and his two daughters. He was in this school to learn how to use these godforsaken limbs of his and heal from the torment that woman had given him.

As he lay in the grass, he still couldn't rid her from his mind. She was under his skin, driving him mad like an itch that he could not be rid of. She stayed there and always came up at the most inappropriate times to leech off his mind and his heart. Eventually, he did manage to sleep. He slept until the sun went down before getting up and walking into the school for dinner.

* * *

Bedivere watched as a man came up and tried the gauntlet. He went so far as the swinging blades, but didn't get much further than that. He frowned and watched as Gawain announced the next man to try his might against the gauntlet they had devised. He was a tall, handsome man with black hair and pale eyes. He hardly looked the sort to know a thing about fighting; much less passing through a test as rigorous as the one they came up with.

"Lancelot d'Lac! Assume the position at the start!" called Gawain. So the man was French?

Bedivere watched as Lancelot made a run for the swords when the bell sounded. He shot off and rolled right under them before coming up and going through several swinging mallets. He leapt and bound and fought through all the obstacles before reaching the end. The crowd cheered him as he took a bow and turned to the knights. He kneeled down and bowed his head to them. "I heard you needed a worthy man," he said, his voice deep and soft, "I do not think I am worthy, but I thought it would be worth a try to go through your gauntlet."

Bedivere smiled faintly, Gawain grinned broadly. Merlin nodded and tapped his wand. "That will be all for today. Tomorrow we'll hold some more tests with the gauntlet before moving on to sparring matches," he said.

Lancelot looked up and smiled faintly. "I will be waiting for the new day, then." He took another bow toward them before running off into the crowd.

Gawain chuckled and looked to the boy who had watched the man go through. He was of age to be a soldier, but looks so fresh faced he hardly knew how old he could be. His hair was blonde and eyes as blue as water. Gawain chuckled faintly as he eyed the boy. If the boy went through the gauntlet, or even showed the least amount of heart for it, he plotted to take the boy under his wing. After all, Gareth was coming out on his own and he was suffering much like a mother bird without her young to raise up! Gawain laughed out loud and stood, Bedivere watching him with a suspicious expression as he walked away. "These days are grand!" said Gawain with a shout.

Bedivere rolled his eyes and shook his head before gathering up his things and walking off.

* * *

Arturia watched the strange play before her. Merlin had come with a strange amusement, much like a portal for her viewing. It had come out of Merlin's wand when he tapped it to the portal that he had created in the air and let her sit and watch the gauntlet defeat man after man. She watched as a black haired man, however, take it on and finish it with confidence. She watched him as he knelt down in front of her knights and professed his humble desire to simply battle the beast of a gauntlet to see if he could do it.

"This man… Lancelot, you say… Have him spar my knights and then bring this news back to me should he win and should there be any others. He is most interesting a man and I wish for him to continue," she said softly.

Merlin eyed her. She looked as though she was not sleeping well. Her eyes had dark circles under them and were reddened. "You should rest, Arturia. You'll strain yourself this way," he said.

Arturia shook her head. "I can not. Every moment I try to sleep all I can see is Cuchulainn's face filling it."

"I told you that one day your antics would catch up with you, Arturia, but you never did listen that well," he said softly. "Sleep," he said again; lifting his hand to her face and passing it over her. She fell against him in an instant. He laid her down on her bed and moved away from her. Being what he was did have some advantages. Thankfully, she would sleep for real and maybe not dream of anything. With that, he left her there and went out of the room.

He stopped when he saw Cuchulainn standing in the hallway. He had a girl next to him and looked as though he had been in the middle of romancing her before Merlin appeared. "Ah, finding new amusements, Cuchulainn?"

Cuchulainn grunted and kissed the girl gently before smiling at her. "Thank you, lass, but I need to go rest, aye?"

The girl smiled brightly at him and nodded before running off. He shot Merlin a glare before stalking off to the room next to Arturia's, slamming the door shut. He eyed the man's door for a moment before heading off to his portkey to get back home.


	40. Chapter Thirty Nine

_**A/N: So I'mma gonna be staying in Bastrop once again for the next few days. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a lot out tomorrow. .**_

_**Anyway, so here we go!**_

_**Chapter Thirty-Nine**_

Cuchulainn listened to the whimpers of Arturia as she slept fitfully. He sighed and pulled a pillow over his head to keep the sounds out. It hurt him inside whenever he heard her cries and wanted to be as far away from her as possible!

He sat up when he could take no more and walked out; wearing nothing but a pair of trousers he picked up off his floor. He opened her room without care and walked in. She was tossing in her small bed, her naked body exposed to the air. He could feel small stirrings inside of him as he gazed upon her. Certainly he fancied her for she was very beautiful, but as for her personality, he found out her personality was that of a pit viper! So, why was it that he wanted to help her when she so clearly was totally undesirable?

"I'm sorry! Please! Please!" she cried and curled up on her side, holding her arms over her head as though to keep from taking unseen blows. He leaned over her and gently took her wrists in his hands. She was sobbing in her sleep, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks as eyes squeezed shut. She tried to pull her wrists from him and he had to straddle her to keep her from going back into a position he could not see her in.

He hummed softly and leaned down over her, watching her. She sniffled for a bit before she began to calm. Whatever nightmare was plaguing her, it had been very bad and she'd hit herself in her sleep. He could see bruises on her fair skin forming and frowned at them. He continued to hum to her as he settled beside her. She didn't fight him anymore, she lay next to him sniffling for a little while longer before her tears stopped and she was quiet.

Cuchulainn couldn't help gazing down at her. He couldn't help the feeling that he wanted desperately to hold her in his arms and make love to her like he had that last night with her. What demons plagued her now? Had her crimes finally caught up to her and threatened to drown her in her own tears for the many lives she had taken and destroyed? He couldn't figure out what would cause her to cry so pitifully in her dreams as she was doing then.

He stroked her nose carefully and dragged his finger over her lips. They were wet and her tongue darted out to catch it. He gently wiped her cheeks and watched as she opened her eyes slowly up at him. She gazed at him in wonder as his fingers trailed over her face once more. When his fingers went over her eyes, they fluttered closed and opened back to him when his fingers passed. She didn't say a word and neither did he. He was afraid of saying something terrible in this delicate moment and he was sure she didn't want him to leave so quickly. Why he wanted to stay was beyond him at this point.

Then, he slowly leaned down and kissed her. He gently kissed her lips, feeling her respond slowly. His kisses were light and coaxing, coaxing her further with him. He felt her mouth open and flicked his tongue into her mouth. She whimpered and tried to catch his tongue, but it flicked back into his mouth too fast. She moved against him to reach his mouth as he started pulling away from her. He groaned when her mouth caught his and felt her tongue burn its way into his mouth, searing his own tongue as she explored. He growled at it, feeling his blood surge as she pressed herself against him. "Arturia," he whispered before pushing her down into the bed with his weight on top of her.

His arms wound around her small body as he kissed and nipped and licked and sucked her lips and neck. Her fingers wound themselves in his hair, her legs wrapping around him and welcoming him to her body. He flicked his tongue against a taut nipple and she arched against him. He tugged and pinched and suckled at her nipples until she was gasping and whimpering for him to take her. Then, he pushed his trousers off and thrust his cock into her. His mind shot through with sparks as he watched the rapid rise of the little queen up the ladder to whatever paradise there was. Her body stretched and strained to find completion in his arms, tightening around his manhood in wonderful ways. She cried out when she felt her body seem to explode inside, her body clenching around his cock. He shouted and shot his seed into her womb before he leaned down and kissed her lips gently and stroked her hair.

"Cu….c…" She could barely speak her orgasm was so great. She reached up blindly and wrapped her arms around him tightly, nuzzling into his neck. He blinked down at her and sighed, pulling her off before getting up. She was fast falling asleep and he had satisfied whatever demon inside of him that had cried out so hard for her small body. When he heard the light snores come from her, he put his trousers on and left to his room. There, he lay down and stared up at the ceiling until he too fell asleep.

* * *

"Galahad, take the position at the start!"

The boy with the blonde hair and the determined gaze nodded and took up his position. The gauntlet started in front of him and he took off at the sound of the bell. Gawain had convinced Bedivere that the boy might be good material, though he didn't say it was because of the look he had seen in the boy's eyes. The look had been one of determination and the want to try to beat the gauntlet.

The boy plowed through marvelously, though very hesitantly. He didn't do quite as well as Lancelot, having to jump back to take another angle at the test to get through it. Finally, he was tossed off the platform by a great mallet to his chest. He coughed and got up and headed straight for the gauntlet again before getting shot off once more.

Bedivere stood up as the boy headed for the gauntlet again. "That's enough. You did well enough, but you were tossed off the platform."

"I think he did very well, Bedivere. Let him try again," said Gawain.

Bedivere eyed Gawain a moment and nodded, sitting back down. Galahad nodded and dove under the mallet and rolled out of the way of another one before coming up to burst through the next obstacles. He came out of the end with many scrapes and bruising, but smiling in triumph. Bedivere eyed him a moment before nodding. "Thank you, Galahad. We'll take this into account when we make the decisions."

Galahad sulked slightly and walked off, Bedivere sighed as he did so. Gawain chuckled. He was like Gareth in his younger years! As he watched the boy walk off, he plotted once more to make the boy either his squire or take him under his wing as a fellow knight, for the boy had potential!

After the gauntlet tests were finished running, the knights set themselves up to test those who passed the gauntlet. Gareth wasn't as good with his sword as his brothers, but he could hold his own in any fight. He was the first to take on the men. Lancelot was the last one to test against Gareth and all the men before him had failed. He took up his sword and looked to Gareth when it was his turn. "So, what are the rules, friend?" he said, smiling faintly.

"The one who can't get up loses," said Gareth, grinning.

Lancelot nodded and moved back to where he was supposed to stand. The bell rang and he came at Gareth with his sword in front of him. Gareth moved around him and dodged the blows Lancelot dealt him. As he moved around, he noticed something about the way Lancelot was making his thrusts. It was as though he were only prodding him to see where the weaknesses lie. Too late for him, however. Gareth didn't see Lancelot move around him swiftly and hit him with the hilt of the blade before twisting again and forcing Gareth's sword out of his hands. Lancelot grabbed the sword and held it up. "Can't fight very well with a sword can you," he said, smiling faintly at Gareth.

Gareth grunted and sighed. "Aye, I can't use a blade that well, but I can pass. I fight better with my fists."

Lancelot nodded as Gareth bowed. "You are welcome to battle me again any time, my friend," said Gareth with a lopsided grin. "I pass you."

Lancelot nodded and grinned as he gave Gareth his sword back and walked over to where his scabbard lay in the grass. Bedivere frowned as he watched the man and then looked to Gawain as he clapped his brother on the back and ruffled his hair. "Oi! Don't mess up my hair!" cried Gareth as he moved away from his older brother.

Gawain laughed and puts his fists on his waist. "Seems we've got a pair that might be workable, don't you think, Bedivere?"

Bedivere nodded before looking to Lancelot. The man was odd, as though he had been working with blades since he was a baby. Bedivere couldn't decide whether the man was naturally humble or was simply putting on a show. When Lancelot seemed ready, Bedivere sent in Agravaine. Agravaine was a very aggressive fighter and was hard to battle even for Bedivere and Gawain; however, his aggressiveness left him open for attack a lot of the time. As Agravaine geared up to fight Lancelot, Bedivere wondered how the French man would do against him.

* * *

Cuchulainn nuzzled on the neck of a girl he had found coming up with a circus troupe. She was an acrobat and looked very pretty, with bright gray eyes and long brown hair. Cuchulainn couldn't help himself from wanting to be near her. She was very sweet and happy.

Amber eyed him from her seat between Fred and Tom, both of whom were in the middle of something. Fred was working on some new joke ideas while Tom was grading papers. The circus troupe was performing near the school and the troupe had come to Hogwarts to ask for permission for a small part of the grounds so they could perform. The girl that Cuchulainn had picked out seemed nice enough if a bit air-headed. That she had caught Cuchulainn's eye was what gave her cause for concern. The man was acting erratically. Amber guessed it was because he didn't truly know what he wanted. He seemed very drawn to Arturia, but was rightfully repulsed by this need.

The girl giggled as Cuchulainn nuzzled and murmured to her, grinning broadly at her. She smiled brightly at him. "You're very nice, Cuchulainn. I like that."

Cuchulainn grinned and kissed her cheek. "I've been told I'm better than nice, but that's a good thing from you," he said.

She giggled and played with his hair. "I love your hair… and your eyes! Your hair and eyes are so odd! I've never seen anything like it before!"

Cuchulainn chuckled and nuzzled against the girl once more, closing his eyes as he took in her perfume. It was a spicy mix, hot and exotic. He could sit and simply nose against her all day like this! He wondered what else the girl could do, given she was so very bendable. A devious curl came to the corner of his mouth and he licked her ear. She giggled and shoved lightly at him, though didn't seem to make him want to stop.

Arturia sat not too far away watching, her gaze empty. Tom glanced at her occasionally to see what she was doing, only be rewarded with a doll like glassy eyed gaze at Cuchulainn and the girl. The girl giggled loudly and shoved at Cuchulainn. He laughed and kissed the girl on her cheek. "You liked that did you?" he said, grinning.

She blushed and laughed. "You're so devious! Do more!"

Cuchulainn laughed and pulled her onto his lap and dug his nose into her hair, growling playfully in her ear. Tom grunted and made a sharp noise when he ruffled his papers. "Please take that out of here if you are going to do things of that nature. You're being very distracting," he said.

Cuchulainn grunted and flipped his middle finger at the headmaster before resuming where he had left off on the girl's neck. She gasped and giggled at him before grabbing his ear in her teeth. "Two can play!" she said as Cuchulainn growled once more.

This time it was a very loud, sharp, bang from where Arturia was sitting. Cuchulainn and the girl stopped to see what had caused the noise; Tom moved slowly to see what she had done. She sat very stiffly in her chair with a very chilling gaze in her doll like eyes. Something was breaking inside her and he could see it. The little doll was losing a part of herself and breaking down.

The girl blinked at Arturia and turned to look up at Cuchulainn. "Does she like you too?"

Cuchulainn grunted and kissed the girl for a moment. "Pay no attention to her," he said gruffly, "You're more important right now than she is to me."

The girl's dark cheeks darkened more as she looked away, her hands on his chest. "Do you really think that when you just met me?"

Cuchulainn smiled warmly at her. "Aye, I do."

It seemed to happen in slow motion to Tom's eyes. He watched the affection building between the girl and Cuchulainn some more before he looked over to Arturia. Her sword appeared in her hand as well as Avalon on her hip. Armor snaked itself around her body as though it were alive and came up the sides of her face in black lines. Tom stood up quickly, but was not quick enough for the great swing on the sword at the girl's back. Cuchulainn cried out in surprise and moved both him and the girl off the couch before the blade could hit its mark. The girl cried out in surprise and looked to the menacing form of Arturia as she stood over them both, cold eyes glaring down at them.

Amber stood up quickly and pulled her wand out. "CRUCI—!" Amber shot backward as a blast of black energy shot at her from the sword. Tom pulled his wand out and sent a green blast of light at Arturia. She moved aside and swung her sword at him. He managed to get away from it, but not by much. Cuchulainn's spear appeared in his hand as he pushed the girl away.

"You stupid woman! What are you attacking people for, hmm? Angry because I'm not paying attention to you?" Arturia turned to him and came at him. He dodged and deflected what he could. Her blows were very powerful. "Oh yes, you are pissed at me for not coming to you, hmmm?"

She faltered and moved away from him. He smirked; he had the upper hand in this. This was going to end one way or another and he was going to come out the victor in this battle! The other witches and wizards tried to contain Arturia, shooting off curses and spells, but she simply dodged and used her sword to deflect them. When they had all backed her into a corner of the room, she flicked her gaze at them all. She couldn't fight them all at once, so she would have to evade and pick them off as they came at her. She raised the sword in her hands, point downward and slammed it into the rock. The rock cracked and burst underneath her, sending her down to the floor beneath them all.

Tom pulled himself up and walked to the hole. "I'm going. Amber, you stay put. Fred, come with me. Edward, Astra, Hohen, you too." Then, he jumped to the floor beneath them and rolled on the ground. The others joined him and pulled their wands out, Hohenheim and Edward getting ready to use their alchemy.

The hallway was dusty from the rock. When the dust cleared slightly, they saw Arturia standing not far off with Excalibur in her hand. Her gaze fixed on them and she ran at them. Walls of rock came up around her to stop her, but she sliced through it with her sword. Hohenheim and Edward ran around her on either side to confuse her while they performed their alchemy. Astra shouted at them and then slammed her fist into the ground, sending alchemized spiked in a line straight for Arturia. She cut the spikes at the start and swung around with her sword. Hohenheim gave a yelp of pain as he fell back, his chest cut. Edward blocked with his automail arm and fell backward as well when it nearly cut through the metal cords making his muscles. He cried out in pain as the sensors went haywire inside his arm and caused it to jerk slightly.

Astra ran over to Hohenheim as Arturia turned to Tom. She dodged shots of green light from his wand. She moved closer to him and when she couldn't get any closer, she brought her sword up and swung it at him. The sword came apart and whipped at him. He yelped in surprise and dodged, but it was useless. He hit the wall with some speed, cuts across his torso from the blade whip.

Amber screamed at the sight of her husband sliding down, blood streaking the wall behind him as he did so. Fred was thrown back as well, the same cuts across his body as Tom's. Draco attempted to grab her wrist to keep her from going down, but she slipped from his grip. "Let go of me, Malfoy! I need to get down there!"

"Stupid bint! He said for you to stay up here!" snarled Draco.

Astra cried out and was sent the same direction as Fred and Tom. Draco saw it and his gray eyes widened at the sight. At that point, Donovan's parents walked in. Avalon frowned as she looked to Draco, black eyes gazing at him through black lashes. The man standing next to her was much taller than her, broad shouldered like his father with a gentle expression. However, the noises below made the gentle look on his face turn into anger. "Draco! What's going on!" He ran over and looked down.

Draco pulled out his wand and twitched slightly as he looked down the hole to his wife. Alphonse put a hand on his arm and nodded. "Come on!" They then jumped down together before Alphonse rolled and got to his feet. He made the rock floor come up around Arturia in a cage and moved over to Edward. "Brother! Are you all right?"

"Yeah!" said Edward. "WATCH OUT!!"

Rock blasted in all directions. Alphonse yelped as he ducked with Edward to avoid the debris headed toward them. Hohenheim attempted to get up, but a rock shot at him and he fell sideways. Draco held Astra against him and stroked her cheek before looking to Arturia as she turned toward him. He shot a couple curses off at her before she tossed him aside like a doll.

Amber jumped down and landed in a crouch. She saw the state of Fred and Tom and went pale. Arturia stood ready with her sword at her side. Amber stood up and let the inevitable come to her. Her pupils disappeared as a pair of doors appeared behind her. An insane chuckle escaped the confines of the gate as a strange light flowed into Amber. Black snake like hands erupted from the gate and shot toward Arturia. She brought her sword up and it sparked with black energy. She brought it up as the hands shot out at her through the air and brought the sword down in a strong swing. Black energy burst from the sword like a cannon. Amber's pupils came back as the gate slammed shut and disappeared. She hit the ground on her knees and coughed, steaming slightly from the energy that had hit her before she hit the ground on her face.

Cuchulainn had seen enough. He dropped down with his spear in hand. The girl followed after him and looked at Arturia with a mixture of fear and wonder. Cuchulainn looked to her and then glared at Arturia. "Why are you doing this? You want to destroy the entire world because I didn't stay with you, is that it?"

She gazed silently at him and pulled up her sword. The girl moved toward him and shot away when Arturia jabbed at her with the sword. Cuchulainn punched her on the jaw with his metal hand and pulled his spear around toward her. She rubbed her jaw for a moment before taking her stance again. "Don't you have any care for anything?!" snarled Cuchulainn. "I used to believe that you were a good woman, that the visage was just that, a visage!"

She stopped and looked up at him with those doll like eyes, only now showing the smallest bit of emotion. He used the opportunity and walked to her. "I used to think you were a great woman, doing what you thought was best for your people. I had great admiration for you ever since you first took the throne."

"And… now?" she said, her voice croaking slightly from disuse.

Before she could react, he shoved his spear into her heart. "You were never what I thought of you," he hissed at her through his teeth. She made a strange sound in the back of her throat as blood rushed up into her mouth, coming out the corners and from her nose. "NEVER." With a great twist, he wrenched her heart in her chest and put his foot on her to shove her off the end. Then, he walked away and helped up the girl he had picked out from her circus troupe and walked out with her.

Amber woke to Tom healing himself with his wand as well as he could before coming over to her and lifting her up into his arms. Fred groaned and pulled himself up as well. "Tom? Fred?" she said softly. Fred grinned and limped over as Tom kissed her forehead. With that, she snuggled against his hard chest and fell asleep.

Everyone slowly filtered up to the infirmary to heal their wounds. Draco received a big kiss from Astra when she came to and helped her get Edward and Hohen to stand up. Draco snorted when he looked at Hohenheim. "Seems your thick skull comes in handy," he said.

Hohenheim rolled his eyes and groaned. Astra helped him up and helped him to the infirmary behind Tom, Fred, and Amber. Alphonse checked his brother before heading back to Avalon before Edward went off to join Draco, Hohenheim and Astra in the infirmary.

They didn't see a black clad figure approach the dead body of Arturia, his dark cloak swirling around him. He leaned down and picked up the small body of the little queen into his arms and picked up Excalibur from the ground. Then, he disappeared into thin air as though he had never existed at all.


	41. Chapter Forty

_**A/N: Didn't update last night because I got into a game called Fiesta, which is really awesome. TRY IT. I'm Apprentice Fighter Elke. **_

_**Chapter Forty**_

Things quieted down inside the school. Children milled about while the teachers dealt with damages to the hallways and the teachers nursed their wounds. Hohenheim now had a long scar across his chest, though like this actually mattered to him. Astra, meanwhile, had taken to ogling him more than usual, which irritated both Draco and Edward. Hohenheim would smirk and pull Astra closer to him as she ran her fingers over his chest playfully, making both men glare and plot to overthrow the "big lion".

Tom and Fred sat on either side of Amber still, Tom rubbing her back gently and Fred rubbing her legs. Amber grinned like a Cheshire cat as she was petted. Tom smirked faintly and nuzzled against her temple. "How are you?"

Amber smiled faintly and snuggled against Tom. "I'm fine, Tom. Still feel a little strange, but otherwise I'm all right." She could still feel the evil side of her peeking through her as the gate opened and tried to take Arturia. It was disconcerting whenever it happened and made her feel ill to know it could come out.

The circus girl had gone off with the rest of her troupe, promising to come back through sometime soon. Cuchulainn wasn't too concerned, however. He had done to Arturia what he had been wanting to and now felt as though he had escaped something terrible. Despite this feeling of triumph, however, there was an odd feeling of emptiness that accompanied it. The doll like face with blood dribbling out of her mouth and nose as he impaled her with the spear haunted him as though a vengeful spirit were coming after him in his dreams; and was it his imagination or did he see something like sadness in those gold eyes when he finally wrenched her heart from her body?

* * *

A glowing bubble surrounded the curled form of Arturia. She was naked, her dress having been taken away to be sewn up and taken care of. She curled around herself like a child protecting her heart, a scar on her breast where her heart was. Donovan Elric gazed at her with his black eyes and sighed. "You never speak, but that is your downfall, Pendragon. If you spoke up in the beginning instead of being afraid of losing this might not have happened. You wouldn't have taken after Cuchulainn and made him hate you. You might even have not killed his wife, though that part is doubtful."

Arturia didn't do anything; she simply floated inside the bubble. She was dead for the most part, her body living without her soul. Her soul was lost, thrust from her body with such force that he lost track of it. So, instead of putting it back in her, he had his younger brother looking for her soul while he healed the body and kept it in stasis.

A younger man with the same white hair as Astra and pointed ears was seated not far away. His face was babyish, young and strong. He was the spitting image of their father Alphonse as though he were cloned from him. However, he was not dressed as approachable as Alphonse was. Even Donovan dressed in a marginally approachable manner to his younger brother Blain. Blain's life had been hard when he was younger, picked on relentlessly and accused of being gay. Like his brother and their mother, he had the ability to "see", however, his ability was reversed. Those who touched him could trigger a massive blow out of whatever was in his head. Unlike Donovan, Blain had grown up far too fast and was far too young mentally when a predator in Hogsmeade had taken him and raped him in a dark alleyway. This had traumatized him to the point that if any man touched him the massive blowout would be triggered. Because of this, boys had picked on him and called him "queer". It wasn't true, however, for he loved only one woman and she was his cousin Merope, a daughter of Tom and Amber. She alone touched him and took the full force of his power into her. She had been very young at the time, but when she grew up, he married her. Due to his need to keep people away from him, he took to wearing black leather gloves and black leather trousers and black clothing that clearly stated "Get away from me" whenever he glared at someone. Now, however, he had learned a new way of using his power.

Blain silently drew circles in the air, slicing open the reality barrier to look into the places where souls are taken when they are lost. Merope leaned against his side and hugged him as she put her brown haired head upon his hard chest, a black leather clad hand rubbing against her rear as he fondled her while he worked. She practically purred as she nuzzled against his ear, earning Blain a look of reproach from his older brother. He grinned slightly and shrugged. "I love my wife, what can I say?"

"You could do it less obviously when around other people, you know," said Donovan, grunting as he looked away.

"You're just pissed that your little pawn fell out through her ass," said Blain, snorting at Donovan's back.

Donovan shot Blain a slow glare before turning around. "She's not my little pawn, Blain. I have it on good authority that she and Cuchulainn are supposed to be alive. However, as much shit as she's pulled, I'm surprised that He still wants her to stay on the Earth."

Blain rolled his eyes and tapped another hole into space with a leather clad finger. He then stopped and raised his eyebrows. "Found her. Hold on." He took off his glove, then, and reached into the hole; pulling out a bright ball of light in his hand. He held his hand open and grinned at it as he spoke to it softly under his breath. "So you're the little demoness from Camelot, hmmm? You've caused a lot of trouble, but you're really cute, so I don't mind," he said, earning a sharp jab to his ribcage from Merope. He chuckled and kissed her before turning to the little ball of light and blowing it toward Donovan. "She's all yours. Now I must attend to Merope. She's wanting attention." He winked and then picked Merope up into his arms and disappeared, laughing.

Donovan rolled his eyes and turned to the little light ball in his hand. "I hope you learned your lesson, Pendragon… because trying to retrieve you from these sorts of situations is getting very tedious."

With that, he silently put the ball of light into the bubble with Arturia's body and let it drift into her.

* * *

"Where is she?"

Tom gazed at Merlin, wondering how he should put it to him that his student decided to attack them all once again and was killed for it. "She's dead." So much for tact!

Merlin's eyes grew wide as he stared at Tom. "She's dead? How?"

"How do you think?" said Tom, getting a little irritated. "She attempted to attack us and Cuchulainn killed her."

Merlin rubbed his face and sighed. "Did she have her scabbard on her?"

"Yes," said Tom. A thought occurred to him. "The scabbard keeps her from dying doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does to a certain extent. It heals the body even when the soul has left it, so long as the thing that has wounded her is taken out of her," said Merlin. "Which means that she's somewhere around here."

"Not anywhere nearby. She was gone when we came back for her body." He grunted as another thought came to him. "Donovan," he said, "Donovan took her and probably put her soul back into her."

"Which means she'll appear again sometime soon, I expect," said Merlin. He sat down and shook his head. "What happened to make her attack you? Did someone say something nasty? She usually has a reason for attacking."

Tom leaned against the frame of the window that Merlin sat on. "She was jealous. Cuchulainn has been hitting on all the girls around him until she was so enraged that she attacked."

"That sounds about right," said Merlin, rubbing his face once more. "When you do find her again, please tell me so I can come right away. I'll have judgment held over for her knights." With that, he touched the portkey in his pocket and disappeared.

"She's alive, you know," said a voice behind Tom.

Tom turned to see Donovan gazing at him through his black hair. Tom eyed Death for a moment before walking toward him. "And?"

"She's in her room," said Donovan. Then, he turned and walked away. Tom grunted and then put his hands into his pockets as he watched the spirit of Death walk away from him. The woman could do one of two things, sulk or attack. He was certain she wasn't dumb enough to attack again; therefore she must be sulking in her room. Now, he wondered where Cuchulainn might be so he could inform him.

* * *

The small form of Arturia lay on her small bed. She was curled up on her side, clad only by the blankets keeping her warm. A few times a small greenish elf like thing would appear with an offering of food, but she ignored them and stayed in her cocoon of blankets.

The door opened and in walked a person. She didn't really care who it was, she wasn't going to talk to them anyway. The person's walk was a light one, as though he was trying to sneak up one her.

"So you're alive then?"

Arturia's heart shot through with pain and she curled up tightly at the voice of Cuchulainn. He had fairly well told her he had no interest in her anymore by killing her, what did he want now? "Go away," she said.

"Can't. They sent me here because that bastard Donovan brought you back to life and they want me to talk to you." He snorted and crossed his arms in front of him in the dimly lit room. "Who knows why."

Arturia pulled the blankets over her head and curled up into a tight ball underneath them. "Please leave me alone," she said softly.

A hand pulled the blanket away from her head and turned her. She grunted and pulled the blanket to her, snapping her jaws at him and growling. "I said leave me alone!" She bit the hand touching her and yelped in pain as Cuhculainn hissed through gritted teeth. The finger she had bitten looked real enough, but there were indentations in the skin that were going away that didn't look right. His hand was hard like steel. Had they given him a prosthetic arm and leg that looked real?

He held his hand and rubbed at the artificial skin covering him. "That hurt, you know," he said. "Hurt like hell when that woman put them on me."

Arturia gazed at him for a moment before turning away from him. "Just go away, lord Cuchulainn. Go back to Ireland now that you have something to make you look as though you never lost anything in the first place."

Cuchulainn eyed her with his one eye and reached down and touched her cheek. What was it about her that he could not forget? Every time he tried, she would crop up in his mind. He looked down and saw the scar his spear made on her breast. It was ugly and marred her appearance some. She made a strange sound and shoved him away. "I said get away from me," she said sounding angry now.

Cuchulainn watched her a moment, not sure what to do. It irritated him that he couldn't think properly anymore when it came to her. He always had in his head the things he wanted to do and did them as they came to him. Now, he was confused as to what he wanted. Watching her cover herself from him and curl up again made something inside him burst.

He clenched his fists and moved away from her. "Why is it I become so conflicted when I'm around you?!" he cried out finally, punching the wall with his fake hand. He clenched his mouth and eyes shut as he rubbed his fist and leaned against the wall. "Every time you're near, you confuse me and make other things come up. I care about you and yet I can't be around you because you make me angry! On one hand I want to strangle you with my bare hands and on the other hand I want to fuck you until you lose that damnable shell of yours!"

Arturia sat up and blinked at Cuchulainn with wide eyes. She frowned faintly, her eyes going back to the chilly doll like look she always carried and stood up. He watched her as she walked toward him, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders loosely. She let it drop in lieu of taking his fake hand with both of her small hands and putting it to her neck. "Kill me. I won't come back again."

Cuchulainn felt the warmth of her soft skin under his fingertips. Ever since he was reintroduced to the sensations he should have been feeling all along in that arm, the sensations were far more acute than they had been previously. Her eyes were gazing up at him, dead, the mask firmly in place over her.

He clenched his hand around her throat gently, not putting too much pressure on her neck, as he watched her react. She closed her eyes and simply held his hand with her two smaller hands as though this was the best thing she had felt in a long time. "Why did you choose to kidnap me? Why did you take me away when you could have simply asked me?"

She looked up at him slowly and looked away. He rubbed her throat with his thumb and watched her react pleasantly to it. She shivered and gripped his hand, looking up at him with those gold eyes. "Why?" he said again.

"Because… I have wanted you for as long as I've heard of you," she said softly. "I have long wanted to be with the hero of Ulster, but always saw you with your wife and felt as though I could never get near."

"You fancy me? Or is it simply lust?" he asked calmly, still rubbing circles on her throat with his thumb.

"I… don't know," she said softly.

He let go of her and pushed her to her bed, shoving her down onto it so she would sit; then, he leaned back and sat on the floor. "You hide behind a mask of authority and cold planning. You never do anything without a plan and never without a perfectly good reason. You are the last person I would expect to be uncertain of how she feels about something." He eyed her for a moment and leaned back on his hands. "Tell me about yourself. I know next to nothing about you."

Arturia blinked at him in surprise. He eyed her a moment. Had no one ever wanted to speak to her and know her before? The thought made sense as he put together her behavior and how she didn't know what to think of him. "You want to know of me?" she asked.

"Aye, I want to hear your tale. You know of mine, now I want to hear yours," he said, affording a small smile toward her.

She pulled the sheet around her and pulled her feet up under her on the bed before looking as though she were going into a trance. He waited for a moment before hearing her voice speak up once more. Then, she told him a tale of how her life began.

"I was born into a noble family as the bastard child of a king. He had raped my mother and left me in her womb with help from Merlin, because Merlin felt a good child would come from the pairing and wanted to give the world a king that the world had been waiting for," she said. "I was born and my mother hated me for I was a reminder of what she had endured. My sister hated me for she knew my father was not hers and that he had hurt my mother. I spent a long time wondering why they didn't want to have a thing to do with me."

"Merlin came one day and took me away. My mother and sister were glad to be rid of me and let him take me away. There, in his house, he taught me many things, all the time saying I would be king one day and would have to hide my identity so that the masses would accept me as their new ruler." Arturia shook her head. "However, I decided from that point on that I would not allow such a thing to occur for I wanted to rule as myself and not as a man. I am a woman, therefore I should rule as one."

"And the people don't like you because of this attitude?" Arturia nodded toward Cuchulainn and watched as dawning realization spread over his face. "The people you've killed for treason were because they questioned and plotted against your authority as ruler because you are a woman." Again, she nodded to his question.

"I took the legendary sword from the stone and brandished it for them. They questioned me back then and I allowed them to have a try. None could take it save me," she said. "It had been my father's sword when he was king and had been placed into the stone by Merlin when he was my father's advisor to keep him from using it for his purposes ever again. Avalon, my scabbard, was given to me by the Lady of the Lake and this was because I had proven to her that I was worthy of it."

_"The kingsword will stand in its scabbard of granite,  
The quicksilver forged in the pools of sky,  
A rumor explained by the one who began it,_

_A boy's hand will grasp it, a man's raise it high."_

Arturia watched Cuchulainn sing and nodded. He eyed her a moment before sitting up. "I heard that song as a child and thought what a grand thing it would be to be sung about as a hero. King Arthur…. Now that man was foolish. Did many wonderful things, but his downfall was that he was too foolish a man to think his own people would rise against him with the aid of his own son."

Arturia gazed at Cuchulainn and sat down on the floor in front of him. "Merlin said it was me in my past life, that I was the King of Knights. I was predestined to come back and take over Briton once more when she needed me most."

Cuchulainn eyed her for a long moment before reaching up and brushing her hair from her eyes. "What is love?" he said. "Do you know the meaning of the word?"

Arturia gazed at him a moment. "It is an emotion one feels when they see someone they wish to marry."

As he suspected; she hardly knew anything of her own emotions, knew nothing of how she felt toward people other than anger and fear and sadness. To have wanted to meet him over the years and not been able to see him until he was with his wife must have hurt her more than he could possibly imagine. Emer was dead now, though. He would no longer see her smile except in the faces of his daughters and would no longer hear her say his name when she would see him come to her. Her answer had been cold and careful, as though she had been taught this, but knew nothing of what the emotion really was.

He leaned closer toward her and sniffed the faint rose and orchid perfume she always wore. "What do you feel when you see me?" he said softly.

She blinked at him then looked away to think. When she looked back at him, she held that same doll like mask upon her face. "I feel…. I…," she said, but seemed to lose what she was wanting to say. "I want… you to touch me.. I want… your hands on me. I want… to have you say my name. I want your whispers and your songs, I want to kiss you, I want to be in your presence, but I feel…. Scared."

That was a lot to feel in just one tiny body! Cuchulainn gazed at her and smiled faintly. "I want to sit beside you when you think, I want to make love to you, I want to have you," she said. "But I feel a sharp pain in my heart when I see you with someone else. I want to make you take notice of me, but know you won't and feel more pain then."

He reached his fake hand up and touched her face gently. It was odd to think that this was the woman who took his arm from him; the very arm that she had requested he kill her with so he would be at peace, the very hand that touched her now with loving motions. She looked to him as though waiting for him to explain her emotions to her. He smiled faintly and nodded. "You love; you just don't know what it is well enough to put words to it. Love is a good emotion, but it also has bad sides to it. It can be obsessive and corrosive, hurt rather than heal. You feel it," he said softly. "And it takes a big set of balls to admit it to the one you love, as well," he said, grinning slightly.

She blinked as though she didn't understand and he chuckled. "Don't worry on it, little queen," he said softly and leaned forward. "Don't worry about anything at all. Just continue feeling what you feel and enjoy it, for not many can truly experience it for themselves."

She gazed at his mouth and licked her lips unconsciously. He grinned at her and curled his fingers into the warmth of her hair. In a second she was on him, kissing him hard as though she was a starving man and eating until she couldn't take anymore. The heat of her was overwhelming, her force even more so. She ripped open his shirt and wrapped her arms around him before immediately suckling at his chest and biting him. He pulled his hair down and gasped as she grabbed his cock and rubbed him through his trousers. "Arturia, gah!" He had to roll her over to keep her from going too fast for his mind to catch up. Whatever she felt, she definitely acted like she grew up thinking she had to be aggressive to get what she wanted!

She panted and tried to lift herself up against him to kiss him again. He panted through his teeth and watched her swollen lips grow wet from her tongue moving over them. He touched the scar on her breast gently and leaned down to it, running his tongue along it as though to help heal the wound that it was caused by. She ran her fingers through his hair and bucked underneath him. He wrapped his arms behind her knees and pulled them up to his elbows as he continued to torment her with his mouth over her breast. He moved further down and sampled her there, watching her writhe beneath him and listening to her shouts as she cried out from the pleasure of it. He picked her up and shoved her onto the bed in front of him before biting at her neck from behind. She gasped and reached a hand up to his hair. He moved away from her shoulder to her hand and pulled it to his mouth, sucking at the flesh of her wrist and over her arm, swirling his tongue on the inside of her elbow and she whimpered at him.

He held her small hips to his, rubbing the hardness of his erection against her rear as he let his fingers dance between her legs. She was wet and hot, his fingers pumping inside her as she thrust her hips against his hand. He nipped at her ear and ran his tongue around it, hissing as he spoke. "Do you like this?" he said, grinning as she whimpered. "I should have known what with how you like to keep me under control when making love to me." He smirked deviously and licked her earlobe for a moment, listening to her moan and feeling her arch her back. "Now, it's my turn."

He let go of her long enough to pull his shirt off and watched as she eyed his trousers. He smirked and pulled them down slowly. "Like seeing this, do you?" She nodded and watched him hungrily. She really was starving and so was he now!

He pulled her hips to him and ran his mouth over her spine and shoulders. She moaned and shivered as he rubbed her breasts down to her hips over and over, moving the head of his cock against her. He guided himself into her and thrusted deep inside her. She cried out and gripped the sheets with those small hands. His own trailed over her arms and locked over his wrists before he thrust deep into her over and over again. She moaned loudly as he pushed his hard manhood into her with enough force to shake the bed against the stone wall. It was maddening! Her cries and squeals of delight spurred him ever on, faster, sometimes painfully slow, sometimes very deep. All the while, he held her hands down so she couldn't touch him. She would jerk at his strong hands, but couldn't break them. She trembled like a leaf against him as he thrust hard into her, reaching his breaking point.

A sharp cry of delight echoed in the room from Arturia's lovely love bite covered throat as she shuddered around his cock. He gritted his teeth and kept moving until he finally burst inside her with a great shout. He kept moving until he was all spent inside her hot body before leaning his forehead against the back of hers. She moaned and panted heavily as she collapsed on the bed. He released her wrists and ran his fingers over her arms until he reached around her and picked her up off her now dirty knees, his seed dripping down her thighs. He laid her on her back and then moved onto the bed over her, kissing her lips gently. This might not be such a bad situation he had found himself in after all!


	42. Chapter Forty One

_**A/N: so I've been feeling pretty terrible for the past couple of days, but at least I think I can eat again. w My stomach still roils a bit. Anyway, lots to do…**_

_**I 3 Chevaliers de Sangrea from the DaVinci Code soundtrack. :3 Also, it's perfect for the whole scene where the knights start rallying the people and pledging their loyalty.**_

_**Chapter Forty-One**_

"What is that one's name?"

"Galahad," said Merlin as he showed Arturia the footage of the men she would choose to be her knights. "Gawain has decided to make him his little pet dog," said Merlin, chuckling. "He thinks the boy needs to be leashed in like a little brother."

Arturia didn't smile or really show much of anything. She nodded and looked at Lancelot's fighting. He picked up a sword and then lost it before grabbing a pole and fighting with it and then using several other things to fight with as if born to be a master fighter. "Bors, Lancelot and Galahad will be my new knights," she said softly.

"When will you come home, Arturia," asked Merlin as he stroked her hair fondly.

She looked away from him and at her lap. "I… have need to be in my solitude here."

"You aren't alone, Arturia. Your knights care about you, your people need you…Emiya's worried sick about you." Merlin sighed when she didn't even look up at him. "And you aren't alone here. Cuchulainn is here as well, you know."

She nodded. He sighed when she didn't say anything else and started back to the door. "Get me a rosary or a cross, Merlin," she said softly. He turned to look at her in surprise. She looked up at him with those doll like eyes of hers, her face set in determination. "I have many things I must ask forgiveness for."

Merlin watched her a moment and smiled faintly. He nodded and walked out for a moment before leaning down to the stone floor. A cross could be anything, rosary beads could be anything, so long as she felt she could pray upon them. He concentrated, the stone of his staff glowing. Slowly, out from the stone rose a beautiful rosary, the beads a nice shade of dark gray like the stone they came from. He held it in his hand and eyed it. It was a bit heavy, but he knew she wouldn't care. He was, quite frankly, surprised that she wanted to ask for forgiveness for the multitude of sins she had committed. She was very well known for not caring what came about from whatever decision she made. It was the first time since she was a child that she cared about what someone else cared. Had her stay here at the school, among the teachers and students and, above all else, Cuchulainn, made her feel the need to repent even just a little?

He knocked on her door and waited. "Come in," she said, though her voice was muffled by the door. He walked in and presented the rosary beads to her. She blinked a little in surprise before taking them from him.

"I just made it for you," he said with a small smile. "Please do choose to come back soon." With that, he left her.

Arturia looked to her door and then slowly moved off her bed and knelt down beside it. The floor didn't bother her; she was accustomed to the hard floor and the uncomfortable feeling of it. She wrapped the beads around her hand and leaned her forehead against them as she clasped her other hand around them. "Forgive me Father in Heaven. I have not spoken to You in a very long time, but I need Your guidance and Your forgiveness for the things I have done…"

* * *

Cuchualinn looked to the walls of the castle. They had rebuilt it well, taking out the burnt bits that he had expected to see. He had come back to Ireland finally, thanks to one of the teachers at the school keeping tabs with the wizards in his new home. As he walked along the halls, he saw the tapestries and thought of Emer. She would have loved them, the many colors and making some for their new home. She always was good with her hands.

Fergus had greeted him when he had come home. His children were off with a nanny. Fergus had promised to stay in Ulster should Cuchulainn need to leave again and Cuchulainn once more felt a stab of pain in his heart. It had started when he came back. He kept thinking of Arturia and how she had opened herself to him for the first time since he had met her. How she knew she was expected to act a certain way and fought relentlessly against those who would say a woman couldn't lead them. As far as he had seen she had done a wonderful job of leading, but that she had lost herself somewhere along the way. He couldn't forgive the things she had done, the crimes she had committed to her own people, to himself, but he felt it was easier if he could overlook them in order to keep moving forward. To keep hating was tiring and he was not one to truly hate others. There was only one woman he hated and that was Maeve. She was far more callous and conniving than Arturia ever dreamed of being, however Arturia had brute force and magic on her side.

He stood in the main hall and looked around. He found the seat he was to take and sighed. He didn't want to go near it. It meant he would spend the rest of his life telling others how to live when he himself didn't live very properly. He was certain he had probably impregnated half of Ulster by now!

"No saints," he muttered. It was what Astra had kept repeating whenever he had said something about himself. He just now figured out its meaning. "There are no saints here" was what she meant. She had been right; there were no saints in this world save a rare few like his wife Emer. She had been a saint by the standards of the Christians. Someone so good died by the hands of someone who couldn't stand her goodness. Were it actually Maeve who did it, he had a plan of action against her should he find it was her. The woman had done more than enough to Ulster, to Ireland, than he could ever allow!

"No saints," he muttered again as he took the high chair. He sat back in it lazily, uncomfortable with the position he had been put into. Next to his chair was where his wife would have sat. As he thought of it, he could see the sparkle of her eyes and shine of her hair sitting next to him in the chair.

"Da?"

He snapped out of his reverie to look up to one of his daughters peeking around the corner. It was the brown haired one, Caley. He smiled faintly and crouched down. He couldn't hear his automail like he used to, thankful for the normal feeling of the new limbs Astra and her great granddaughter had made for him. Caley eyed him for a moment with those little red eyes of her and then ran in. "DA!"

Immediately after her was Elish, the little blue haired one that seemed to be taking after him. She ran in after her sister and clung onto him as he caught Caley. He laughed as he fell backward on his rear and ruffled both girls on their heads. They laughed until they cried against him, sobbing uncontrollably into his shirt. He watched them sniffle as their sobs subsided and stroked their soft hair until they started nuzzling against him. It felt as though they had been sitting there for an hour, him letting them sniffle and weep against his chest as he held them. It had been a long time since he had held both girls. Mostly he had always felt as though he would hurt them or something if they came near him, but when they came running to him, he couldn't help himself and lost himself in the joy they seemed to have in his presence.

He sighed and leaned his head back against the seat behind him. Caley and Elish looked up at him and snuggled against his chest. "Da, what happened to mam?" asked Elish.

Cuchulainn frowned faintly as he stroked the little blue haired girl on the head. "She is waiting for Da when he is ready to go to the good place she is in now," he said softly. The girls snuggled against him again and buried their faces in his shirt. He gazed off at nothing in particular as he continued to stroke both girls' hair. He then closed his eyes and sang softly for them, feeling them slowly slacken against him as they fell asleep. When they were asleep, he picked them up and took them to their room where he laid them down and then laid down in his own bed. He could still smell Emer's scent on the sheets, though it was faint. When he too fell asleep, he dreamed of fine things, days now gone with Emer and laughing. Whoever had killed his wife would dearly pay!

* * *

"We have found our queen," said Bedivere as he stood up. The crowd of people gathered around the main entrance steps to the castle murmured to one another. He held up a hand to get their attention. "She is hiding in a convent until further notice. She will reside there until she feels comfortable coming back. Until then, Merlin is taking our messages to her and back. She is safe and being well cared for,…."

"She's repenting for how she treats us?" cried a young man in the crowd. "She's trying to beg forgiveness for shoving us under her thumb like a bunch of ants?"

Bedivere eyed the young man a moment before shaking his head. "Do not ask such a thing from me. She does what she can to protect you and to rule with good judgment," he said.

The crowd started murmuring again, Gawain looked clearly very irritated as he stood up. "Oi! People! My aunt is a good woman and she has done what she could to protect you lot from terrible things! I've been here since the time she went off to find more people to fight for her against that bloke Gilgamesh and here you are acting ungrateful for what she has given you! We can't do anything about the high tax from either America or Ireland, all right? Your goods will still be very expensive and there's not much we can do about it. She still knocks it down when it comes to her so that you might be able to get it! Do you think all she does is for nothing?"

The people looked at Gawain with all their attention. Gawain smirked when he had their attention and swaggered as he walked down toward them. "Look, we do what we can for you, but we're only the counsel. My aunt is the queen; she was made queen because by the rules she pulled the sword from the stone and thus became queen. None other than her could do this. Without her, you would probably all have still been living with what little you had to you with a bunch of nobles still fighting over who would get to be king." He stopped and crossed his arms in front of him. "For now she is not with us for she feels as though she must repent for whatever she has done. If you lot would actually think you might be grateful for her being your queen!"

The people murmured a moment before Bedivere raised his hand. "Sir Gawain is correct. What we need to do now is stop fighting and start working to make certain that when our queen comes home that things will be the way they were when she left or better."

The people still looked uncertain. Bedivere frowned faintly and looked to Gawain, who shrugged at him in turn and crossed his arms in front of his chest. The black haired man, Lancelot, walked over to the steps through the crowd and pulled his hood back. Many of the women gasped at how handsome he was. "I feel you are right, good sirs. Loyalty to your leader is very important. No matter what, she or he, it doesn't matter which, is generally trying their best to do the job given to them. Being a woman in a man's position must be far harder than it would be for a man, therefore she must be trying even harder still."

The young blonde haired man came forward and stood beside Lancelot, his head held high and proud. "If we were chosen to knights by our queen, by God, I will serve her with everything I have! If anyone of you contests her one more time, you will face me! I may not be much of anything, I'm not even sixteen, but I will do whatever it takes to do as she bids and protect her until my last dying breath!" He immediately bowed down to the knights and lowered his gaze to the ground. "Knights! Train me to become better so that I might better serve our queen!"

Gawain grinned and laughed heartily, as did the older man, Bors, who walked up on the other side of Lancelot and bowed. Gawain walked down and pulled the boy up by his collar and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and ruffled his hair affectionately. "You heard it here! If you have complaints, you tell them to us! We do what we can only for our Queen's sake and for the duty she has bestowed upon us!"

"She's our lady and we must do what we can for her," said Bedivere as he walked down to join the new men and Gawain. Agravaine and the others slowly filtered down behind him. "Do you have any more problem with her now?"

The people stayed silent, watching the knights in awe. Some looked away in shame, a few continued to glare at the knights, but most stood silent in absolute awe of their leader's counsel and protectors. Such loyalty had gone unseen for so long they hardly knew what to do with it when they saw it. When Gawain held up his hand to them and moved away from the now very ruffled and irritated looking Galahad, who took a swing at his back for mussing his hair, the people seemed more attentive than usual. "Will you help us? Will you help us keep this realm safe for all Britons? Will you stop contesting our queen while she can not defend herself properly? Will you do this for us?"

With a resounding cheer the people shouted their "yea" to the knights. The knights stood with grand appreciation for the hard working people and for their queen who brought them together. The days afterward would move along with the knights helping in the fields, some going out of the city to the other cities and towns and villages to spread the word that the queen had been found and that a new call for all to do their best to serve their masters and for their masters to adhere to the ideals of the queen and her knights, for the knights had been given the authority of steward and left to govern the land as well as they could while their queen was away.

* * *

"She's been very despondent since I told her Cuchulainn had left for his home," said Astra softly as she nuzzled against Draco.

Draco rolled his pale gray eyes and stroked her hair. "She's just disappointed the bloke didn't stick around after he boinked her like a beach ball." He grunted when Astra jabbed his sharply in the stomach.

"Oh do be quiet, Malfoy," said Amber from across them both. She sat on Fred's lap and looked much like a ventriloquist dummy sitting on his lap. She was far smaller than Fred and she was even smaller still compared to Tom who was practically a giant compared to everyone else except Hohenheim. However, compared to Hohenheim, he was a twig while Hohenheim was broad.

"Shrimp," muttered Draco with some irritation. Amber pointed her wand at him and shot off sparks. He yelped as a small amount of electricity seemed to pass through him in a brief second. "OW! YOU RUDDY BITCH!" He yelped again when Astra gave him a sharp kick to his leg and pulled his ear to her. "GAH!"

"What did I tell you about being mean to my friends and family?" she said, clearly annoyed by his behavior.

Draco had a real choice dangling in front of him and it was obvious to everyone who was watching with some small amount of amusement, i.e. Tom. He could either continue to speak foully to his own wife and be thrashed within an inch of his life or he could attempt to flirt with her until she forgot what made her so angry in the first place. Now, this man had been married to her for the longest time before Hohenheim ever came along, he had known her since she came to the school back in her fifth year when Professor Umbridge was taking over because her grandmother had felt her old school was too unsafe now for her, i.e. she was kicked out for "bad behavior". Back then he had hardly paid attention to her and even found the very image of her disgusting, yet something about the way she completely rejected him made him want to get her attention even more. This man had even battled through her crush on her Alchemy teacher, Professor Edward Elric, to get her attention directed toward him. So, with all this background with this woman, how would this man react?

"Not to do it when you are within ear shot?" he said, grinning devilishly at her.

Astra's ears went pink and she kicked him sharply again. "OW!! WOMAN!!" Indeed, he went both ways and Tom paid his small bet to Fred who held the largest grin ever recorded on his face like a Cheshire cat. Amber rolled her eyes and goosed both men on their stomachs before settling between them, causing them both to grunt from her tickling them and Tom's ears to change into a pair of black wolf ears on his head. He grumbled when he touched them and made them go back.

Arturia at that moment had come in and blinked at Tom in surprise. "What was that? Are you some form of werewolf?"

"Don't be so ridiculous," said Tom with some irritation. "I'm an animagus. I sort of have to be in order to keep up with my wife here who is pretty well a werewolf now." Arturia eyed Amber for a moment before looking back to Tom. "Long story, she turns into a wolf occasionally when her stress level is too high or it's a full moon. If she runs, I've got to go after her and the only thing that can keep up with her is another wolf, me."

Arturia nodded and sat down in a chair, primly folding her hands in her lap and crossing her legs at the ankle under her skirts. She watched Tom and Amber for a moment and understood something she had noticed while she stayed there. While Tom acted as though he didn't care, he was hard pressed to leave Amber's side for any real reason barring school. As she could recall, wolves were very loyal to their mates. It seemed to make perfect sense now that she saw it. She could remember the tale of him being a great dark wizard that Merlin had told her. It was not hard for her to believe the man had once been a terrible person before then, for he still showed little care for anyone other than his own children, his charges and his wife.

Amber looked to Arturia for a moment and looked away. "How are you?" she asked.

Arturia gazed at Amber in mild surprise. She was still unaccustomed to how they spoke so freely to her. She wasn't used to people willing to talk to her outside of the people and her nobles trying to either beg for something or swindle something. She wasn't even really that certain how to answer, for she didn't know how she herself felt at that moment. "I… am fine," she said softly and looked away.

"I'm sure he just went back to see how his country is doing or his children are faring. I mean, he's a king now and pretty suddenly, right?" Astra smiled sheepishly as she attempted to comfort the little queen the best way she knew how. She crawled across Ed and Hohenheim's laps and laid her chin on the arm of the couch as she looked to the small queen with some small hope that she was being helpful.

The emotions running through Arturia were odd and made her feel uneasy. On one hand she was angry he had left, on another she understood that he left. She could no longer force him to her will anymore than she could the wind. It would only frustrate and anger him further to have him tied down so forcefully to bend to her will. The prospect of him having children also made her uneasy. That meant there could be children by his wife that would be waiting for him to come home; children by a woman she had order the assassination of.

There was no way in all of heaven and earth that she would be able to repent for all she had done in her jealousy and resentment toward those she had killed and harmed. With such a weight on her, she straightened up and bore it with the steel will she knew she held inside of her. When judgment day came, she would not pretend to have done what she thought best, but she would take her judgment without protest, be it through the gates of heaven or through the gates of hell she go through.

Amber watched the change in Arturia's demeanor. While she had looked depressed and lonely before, now she had the shell she always seemed to wear before around her once more, ready to let whomever batter away at it until they rot. It made Amber feel a little uneasy to see it come back over the small woman when she seemed to have opened herself up before then. Perhaps Cuchulainn would come back and things would be resolved then?


	43. Chapter Forty Two

_**A/N: So I was sick for a while, but I'm better now. I blame the huge amount of salt in the stew my granpa made because it made me, my grandma and him sick. Bleh! Anyway, so not much going on. I'm finally able to eat normally again, which is an improvement on the very very very little I had yesterday and the almost nothing I had on the day before. **_

_**Anyway, so yeah, I'm feeling better after two days of nothing but feeling terrible. :3**_

_**Cu and Arturia in my head are beginning to turn into slave drivers, screaming at me whenever I slack off in the middle of doing a chapter to get movin' pronto. Gilgamesh isn't nearly as pushy, he's too busy being bored. Meanwhile, Tom takes up the greatest portion inside my head now and makes snide comments at random.**_

_**Chapter Forty-Two**_

A stone marked the spot under a tree. A mound of dirt and some grass growing was the indication that someone was buried under it all. The stone was circular, like a wheel, with a line around it with various slashes against the line in an old blessing that few, very few, knew how to read outside of those who kept up the oldest ways of the Irish people. On the ground in front of the stone was a marker stone, a name engraved into it so those who wished to find her could do so.

Cuchulainn stood in front of the stone and stared at it solemnly. The leaves were beginning to turn, indicating winter was coming. The slight chill in the air made his prosthetic joints ache slightly. He had been gone for so long away from her and was not even able to see her one last time before she had died. The thought left a cold bitterness inside of his heart that hurt terribly. He had never hurt so much inside except the day he had to kill his own friend.

He knelt down and touched the dirt that had yet to take seed. It had packed down over the months he had been away and was smooth instead of loose. For a moment, he could hear her heart beat in the earth, as though the earth was Emer herself. He lied down on the ground and put his ear to it, closing his eyes. He heard nothing but the earth, but that was calming enough.

In his dreams, he saw Emer looking frantically for him. When she looked up, he held a bow and arrow up and had brown hands. He shot her in the heart and a couple of times in the back before Cuchulainn woke up with a start, wondering where he had been. Those came often and he wondered if it was a message from his Emer from the grave.

He looked at his hands and thought carefully. Brown hands could be anything from a black man to an Indian to an Arab tribesman to a Babylonian. He thought carefully and closed his eyes against the light as he remembered how his hands were adorned. They had white cloth sleeves and colorful tunic sleeves over them. So was it really as what Fergus and the other men deduced? Someone hired an Arab tribesman to assassinate Emer? But why would anyone want to kill the queen when the queen was young and pretty and the king was the one to get rid of? It made no sense!

He sat up and leaned against the tree; pulling his knees up and hugging them. Frustration over the mysterious death of his wife and the pain in his joints was bothering him terribly. Who would want to get rid of a woman?

* * *

Fergus looked at the mirror that Merlin had given him through one of the wizard advisors so he might better communicate with him should something come up on his end. As he gazed at it, thinking about many things, he thought he saw a flash of a pair of feminine, gold eyes. He frowned and put the mirror away and started moving quickly. Someone wanted to talk to him, but had stopped partway through the mirror viewing. He found his room and went into it quickly and locked the door. He moved to his bedchamber and closed that door as well, sitting at a small desk made from some wood he couldn't really name.

He pulled the mirror back out again and looked into it again. "Yes?"

At first nothing appeared and then slowly out of his reflection, he saw the eyes again. The eyes suddenly were held by a face and the face bloomed into that of the little queen, Arturia. Fergus blinked at her. "What are you doing on this, little queen?" he said.

Arturia eyed Fergus a moment before looking elsewhere and then back to the mirror in her hands. "I was wondering what this device did, for I had seen that silver haired woman talking into it earlier. Fergus Mac Roich, correct?"

"Ah, so you aren't simply missing as the messenger said," said Fergus with some amusement in his voice. Arturia flushed slightly in the mirror, though her face went back to its normal doll like masked soon afterward. "What is it you need, dear lady?"

Arturia gazed at Fergus and looked as though she were mulling over a big decision. He smiled at her faintly as she looked away to her lap and fidgeting for a moment before looking back at him. "I… I want to know…"

"How the lad is doing?" he said, smiling faintly. She really did care for the boy, even if he was as well known for going off at random. "He's well if that's what you're asking. He's told me a great deal of what has happened… especially you taking a couple of things away from him." She stiffened visibly and, as he watched, the shell she had carried back when he had first met her, fell neatly into place over her. "I don't think he's too upset anymore, though he's not really known for showing a great deal of what goes on inside that head of his. He certainly doesn't act as though he just lost an arm and a leg."

Arturia's gaze softened and she relaxed slightly. "I… want to see him. He most likely won't come back here…"

"Why don't you go home? Your people need you, you know," said Fergus.

Her gaze grew hard and cold as the mask fell over her once more. "I do not wish to go home yet."

"Your people want you back, you know. They need you. You are their queen. You can go back to wherever that school is anytime you wish, you could come over here any time you wish, I think, as well." Fergus frowned at her odd behavior. She had fought hard to become the queen of Briton and now she didn't want it?

"I can't," she said.

"Why can't you?"

"If I go home, I will never be able to come back here or to Ireland ever again," she said softly, though her face was hard. "Leadership is a cage. I will endure the cage for as long as I live, but it prevents me from doing what I want when I want." For a moment, she looked impassioned, her cheeks flushing slightly and her eyes glittering like the women he had loved in his past. She had found something to want and he knew who it was.

"So the lady has something she wishes to do when she wants to do it without the cage keeping her wings clipped?" said Fergus, smiling faintly. "Come here. Dress simply and wear a cloak. Ask one of the wizards there if you can borrow a portkey to here. I'm sure one of them has one, since the wizards here go there at times. Do this within the hour and I will go to meet you."

She nodded after a moment. He smiled and nodded toward her. He started to put the mirror down when he heard a very faint "Thank you" come from her. He looked back, but she was not there anymore. He grinned broadly at his reflection. While he felt Emer had been a perfect match for Cuchulainn when he had married her, something about the sincerity with which the little queen pursued him made him feel good about her being with the boy. If things continued, perhaps in time, when the boy finally finished mourning, he would move on and take the queen as his wife.

* * *

Fergus waited in the room with the wizard portkeys, avoiding touching any of them, even in curiosity. It had been thirty minutes since he had told Arturia to meet him using a portkey to the Ulster Castle, though he had said "within the hour" to her. It was getting later in the day as he stood there, feeling rather foolish and more than a little nervous to be around so many transportation spell covered objects.

He waited longer and longer, feeling the air grow colder. What had kept the queen away? Did someone not give her a portkey? He pulled the mirror out of his pouch and looked into it. "Little queen? Are you there?" he muttered to it. Nothing happened.

He walked out of the room and tucked the mirror back into his pouch. Had she decided not to come? No, she would have given him a message if she had! He ran out the doors and saw the sun had gone down all the way. In the distance, against the old tree where they had buried Emer, he could see Cuchulainn sitting with his head leaned back against the tree, his knees drawn up with his arms resting on them.

Fergus walked toward him and stopped. "Lad! Lad!" he called. Cuchulainn didn't budge. Fergus reached him and knelt down beside him. He was firmly in sleep's grasp. Perhaps he was dreaming of his wife in the world between life and the afterlife?

He pulled off his cloak and draped it around Cuchulainn's shoulders before walking into the castle. He would figure out the mystery of Arturia while he got something into his stomach.

* * *

The sky was sunny and warm, the lush green grass beneath his feet smelled sweet and green. A tree stood in the middle of the green, the branches large and long, the trunk huge and thick, the leaves bright green and lit up by the sun. Cuchulainn stood up and gazed at the great tree in all its bright glory. There, at the base of it, stood a circular stone with the old ogham writing on it. Beside it sat a beautiful woman that made his heart leap. Her long purple hair shimmered as she plaited it with her graceful fingers, the smile on her face genuinely radiant as she hummed softly.

"Emer?" he murmured. He wasn't certain if what he saw was an illusion or just a dream or the real thing.

Emer opened her beautiful eyes and gazed at him with the gentlest of looks. "I've been waiting for you, Cu," she said and left her hair alone for a moment before standing. Cuchulainn ran to her and pulled her up into his arms as he used to do. She laughed and it was like little bells to his ears. "My hound, my precious hound," she said.

Cuchulainn nuzzled into her neck as he held her to him and smelled her. She smelled of green grass and fresh air, but not his Emer's usual perfumes. He blinked and looked to her; she smiled faintly and stroked his face before cupping it with her gentle hands. He closed his eyes and nuzzled aganst one of her palms. "Emer, what is…?"

"It is a dream," she said softly, "But here you can be with me for now."

Cuchulainn gazed at Emer and let her down before hugging her around the waist, on his knees and nuzzling against her stomach. She touched his hair and smiled faintly at him. "Who killed you? Do you know?"

"No… I only know he was a man with brown skin, dressed as an Arab tribesman," she said softly. "His accent, however… was very distinctive. He sounded as though he were taught to speak by a royal or a royal advisor from Briton. It was a very upperclass English accent that he had."

Cuchulainn gripped the back of her dress and continued to nuzzle against her tummy, as though just holding onto her would make her come back to him. She hummed softly and continued to comfort him with her soothing stroking of his hair. After a while, she knelt down and kissed him. He, in turn, kissed her passionately, pulling her hard against him. She pulled away from him for a moment before gazing at him and stroking his lips with her fingers. He kissed them as he watched her.

"Who took you from me? Was it the queen?" she said.

"Aye, the little queen pulled me to her kingdom. She—," he stopped and felt as the world and Emer began to fade. "Emer, what's going on?"

"You are waking up, Cu," she said with a smile. "Just wake up… I will see you again." With that, the world he was in faded around him, Emer faded from his arms and night surrounded him. He found he had a man's cloak laying on him with a horse head pin stuck to it. Fergus. It would be just like the man to have a horse for a cloak-pin when the man had a name like "son of a horse"!

He sighed and leaned back against the tree behind him for a moment, tears coming to his eyes for the first time in a long while. His heart broke slightly, chipping at the edges as he could still feel Emer in his arms. He cried silently for a while, letting the tears come to him and letting them wash down his cheeks. When he had no more tears to cry, he listened to the sound of the breeze making the grass and the tree leaves move.

When he opened his eyes and looked out at the night around him, he saw a figure walking, black against the stars. The cloak the figure wore was simple, made from wool possibly; pinned with a simple broach or a dragon. It was a woman wearing the cloak and she was very small, possibly elderly by the looks of the old wool cloak. "Hello, dear lady," he said, waving a hand before standing. "What brings about a woman into the night? Are you a spinster, perhaps? Come to spin our flax?"

She stopped and the hood of the cloak moved toward him. He couldn't even see her face! He walked toward her and bowed. "I am Cuchulainn," he said. "I asked if you were perhaps a wandering spinster."

The woman didn't do anything for a moment before curtsying to him gracefully, her hands small and delicate, her sleeves trimmed with black lace. He recognized the lace, but couldn't place it. "I… am a spinster," she said, her voice odd as it cracked slightly. She was young; she had to be, for her hands were far too young looking to belong to an old woman.

"Please, come inside and we will set you up a room with a wheel so that you might do your trade. We will give you food and what you need to work and money when you are done," he said, eyeing her carefully. Her head was constantly bowed to him so that he couldn't get a closer look. If she was who he knew she had to be, why the hell was she there?

He wrapped her arm around his and ushered her into the castle where people were milling about; some talking, others working on one thing or another. Fergus looked up and blinked at Cuchulainn with the cloaked woman next to him. "Er… where did you find that one?" said Fergus, coughing as his voice cracked slightly from surprise.

Cuchulainn eyed Fergus for a moment before smiling broadly. "I found this wandering spinster walking around aimlessly. I felt that since she was so elderly we should take her in and let her do her honest work. After all, it's so hard for a woman to get work when they're all alone..." He smirked as he eyed the cloaked figure that was indeed very short compared to him. "Especially one who's small enough to pass as a child," he said.

The woman twitched slightly; not very much, but just enough of a twitch to give Cuchulainn an indication. She said softly, "My size should not enter into it."

"Indeed, but size does matter when you're being set upon by bandits and raiders, aye?" He grinned broadly as she twitched again.

"It doesn't matter if you have the will to win," she said. He noted a slight heated tone in her voice and smirked deviously.

"I'll take you to your quarters then, shall I?" said Cuchulainn. "After all, you will probably want to rest well before the morrow. You'll have a full day of work ahead of you!" Without another word, and Fergus gaping slightly as he tried to get a hold of Cuchulainn before he shoved off, Cuchulainn ushered the spinster up the steps. They passed several floors before a pair of girls in the hallway looked up. Caley and Elish grinned broadly as they saw their father appear. He waved to them and smiled. "Caley! Elish! I have brought a guest to Ulster! Please be kind to her."

Caley and Elish stopped and looked to the cloaked figure and then to their father before grinning and curtsying to her clumsily, little Elish almost losing her footing. "We're pleased to meet you, ma'am," said Caley.

The woman bowed her head to them, folding her hands in front of her. Indeed, he saw the lace and knew that lace from only one woman. He had forgotten, however, that it was a lace undergarment she wore, not lace on the dress itself. He opened a door after he walked past Caley and Elish and ushered her into the room. It was a grand room, very expansive, much like a king's chamber. He nodded to her as he closed the door and released her. "All right, this will be your room until you leave. We'll bring a wheel in tomorrow so you can do your work. I'll send food up so you can eat dinner if you wish."

She shook her head under the hood of her cloak and looked to the bedchamber door. "Is that my bed?"

Cuchulainn moved closer to her and leaned down, putting his hands on her small shoulders and smirking as he hissed into her ear. "Aye, it is your bed. It should be warm and cozy." He felt the shiver run through her and grinned more before moving away. "I am leaving now. Thank you for your services, lady." Then, he walked out, closing the door behind him. He had to refrain from laughing until he reached the main hall where he burst out laughing with such force that he fairly exploded with it.

Fergus ran over to him and put a hand on him. "Lad! What?"

"You have some gall, Fergus," said Cuchulainn. He grinned and clapped his foster father on the back as the man started getting a grin of his own. "Good work, Fergus."

Fergus laughed and shook his head. "You pup! Just wait until you're my age and then see why I do these things!"

* * *

Arturia pulled the cloak off her and set it down on a chair. She walked around the room, gazing at the many tapestries on the walls and then went into the bedchamber. It was a very fine room indeed, one that she had for herself. It was fit for a king! She walked around the bed and gazed at the blue comforter and blankets, white linen sheets and feather pillows. The curtains were blue with silver thread decorating them in beautiful designs. She took off her dress and lay in the bed wearing the lace undergown she always wore with her dresses. She took off her sword and laid it behind the bed where she could reach it and pulled her boots and stockings off as well.

After a moment, she blew out the lamp next to the bed and took her hair down before falling asleep. She would have to sleep lightly in order to know when to get up before Cuchulainn came so she could cover herself with the cloak once more. She didn't know why she felt it was necessary to hide, but perhaps hiding was the thing she had to do. As she dozed off, she could smell a familiar smell in the bedding. It was a masculine scent that forced her to drift off into dreamland where she was comforted.

* * *

Emiya found a mirror and looked into it, hiding away in Arturia's bedchamber where Merlin wouldn't go. It was no ordinary hand mirror, for he had seen Merlin talking into it. When he whispered to it, the glass shimmered and a woman with blonde hair appeared in it, gold eyes glaring at him.

Emiya immediately shoved the mirror into his coat; afraid she had seen him and might tell Merlin. It wasn't a key to how to transport himself to the school, but it was a key to talking to the school. With that in mind, he got under the covers of his bed and slept, holding the mirror close to him.

* * *

Arturia felt warm at her back, warm flesh against her own. She felt warm hands caressing her sides and pulling the skirt of her undergown up over her legs. She smelled a masculine scent that made her senses fire up and moved against the man holding her so intimately against him. "Mmmm who touches me?" she said as she started to move away from him. Strong arms pulled her back, wrapping around her as the man's face nestled into the base of her neck and rooted around.

She shoved at him and thrashed, but he was stronger than her. She felt a hard bulge against her and knew what it was. She saw blue hair out of the corner of her eye and settled slightly against him. "Cuchulainn?"

"So you figured it out that it was me? I'm surprised you didn't try to castrate me with your bare hands," he said, grinning at her before licking her ear.

Arturia shivered and groaned. "I was asleep and was uncertain as to what I should do, for the smell and the warmth reminded me of you," she said.

He stopped and looked to her as she turned partially to look at him. He smirked faintly and leaned closer to her. "It could have been someone who happened to feel and smell like me, you know," he said softly, keeping his mouth from hers purposely.

She tried to kiss him, but he kept back from her. She frowned faintly. "Why is it you tease me?"

"I wish to know why you are here, dear little queen. Shouldn't you have gone back to Briton where your people need you?" He rubbed her breast and ran a hand down over her body, watching her writhe a little as he pinched her nipple through the lace. He nipped her earlobe and grinned when she moaned. "Why come here when you should be getting back to your own life and away from me? After all, you still haven't married."

Arturia went still and looked away. He eyed her a moment before kissing at her neck. She didn't respond. He nipped at her flesh, over her shoulder and over her neck, as his hands worked her body. She grunted and twitched against him, trying to stay silent. "If you don't talk to me, I'll only keep teasing you until you speak," he said, taunting her with a low growl in her ear.

"Because I want to marry," she said softly.

"Mmm yes, we have already established that you need to marry soon, but who will the unlucky blighter be?" said Cuchulainn as he ran his fingers between her legs, teasing her folds. He grinned when she whimpered. "I'll make you tell me. Is it your little lapdog?"

He continued tormenting her until she let out a yelp, shuddering around his fingers inside her; panting hard as he held her against him. All the teasing her had caused his cock to stiffen in his trousers and push very hard against the front of his trousers, at least that's what it felt like! He groaned and shuddered when she brushed against him, pumping his fingers inside her once again. She whimpered and shoved at him. "Tell me," he said, biting her ear gently and running his tongue over it. "Tell me who it is you wish to marry or I'll make it even harder for you to remember their name," he said, his voice husky with need.

"YOU!" she snarled. "I want to marry you!!" He stopped and watched her as she panted and looked to him over her shoulder, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright with passion. "I have always wanted you since the very moment I heard of you," she said, her tone hot and hushed.

He gazed at her intensely, watching her lips move and licking his own. Her body was driving him crazy with her heat and wriggling. "You want me?"

"Yes," she said, calming down some. She looked away and settled with her head on her pillow. "I've… always wanted to marry you."

"Because you wished the hound of Ulster as your mate or because you wanted me?" he asked, watching her carefully.

"Because you intrigued me… because some part of me lifted when I heard your name. I do not know how to explain it other than that," she said softly. "A man my age… making himself a legend…"

"Yes, that would be intriguing to you, I suppose," he said, smirking as he pumped his fingers inside her again. She moaned and writhed against him. "Mmm and you're wet."

She lay still once more and he frowned. She was disappointed with something he had said. He continued to pump his fingers and nuzzled into her hair. "Are you waiting for an answer to your partial proposal, dear little queen?"

"I never proposed to you, that is the man's duty," she said stiffly.

"Aye, but you said you wanted to marry me, therefore, you have begun a proposal to me," he said softly, stilling his fingers for a moment.

She still wouldn't look at him, keeping her face turned so she wouldn't look over her shoulder at him. He pulled her leg over his hip and pulled his cock out from his trousers, groaning from releasing it. He rubbed the tip of it against her wetness and pushed it slowly into her with a groan. She moaned and shivered from the feeling of him filling her. "Will you not even look at me while I make love to you?"

"I…." She gasped as he thrust quickly into her. She was losing her ability to think coherently! He leaned over her and kissed her neck, rubbing her breast with his free hand and pinching her nipple gently.

He was tormenting her, he knew it. It was to get her to talk to him and his patience had started to wear thin. Truth was, he didn't know how to take her admission to him. Half of him still didn't like her for how she took his arm and leg and the other half screamed for her.

She screamed as she shuddered tightly around his cock. He groaned and kept thrust into her until he gave a loud shout and shot his seed into her. After a moment, he nuzzled against her shoulder and kissed her there. He undid the lacing of her gown and rolled her onto her back, underneath him. He moved down her body and suckled at her nipples as he teased her back to life once more with his fingers.

"Cuchulainn!" she gasped. She writhed and wriggled before she rolled him under her and held him down with her hands on his wrists, straddling his stomach. She gazed at him hotly as he snapped his jaws at her. "Why….? Why do you do this to me when you do not want me?"

He pulled her under him and kissed her hard. "If didn't want you," he growled, "then I might get a decent night's rest for once! You fill my dreams when I don't have Emer there!" He kissed her again and held her down, pinned beneath him as he dug his tongue into her mouth. Her moans echoed his groans as his manhood came back to life.

She pulled away and shoved him underneath her once more, cupping his face in gentle hands. He hair was tossed around her head as gold eyes burned like molten metal into his red ones. He gazed at her, uncertain of why it felt as good as it did to be held that way by her. She leaned down and kissed him gently, nuzzling against his forehead. "I can't marry you. I would tie you down and force you into a life you can not live."

Cuchulainn panted, flicking his tongue at her mouth. He caught her tongue and rubbed his against hers. "The only way I could live a life I wanted would be if I had never become a king," he said, "And now I will not live that life anymore. I am a king now and thus whatever you could do to me could not pull me down anymore than that could."

"Then, do you accept?" she said softly.

He eyed her a moment before looking to her mouth. In a second he had her under him again and kissing her as hard as he had been before. She moaned and clawed at his back through his shirt. When he let up, he gazed at her and licked her lips gently. "Yes, I will be your husband," he said.

She touched his face with such tenderness that he barely knew what to make of it. She stroked his cheeks and his lips with her fingers, watching him kiss her fingertips and close his eyes. Then, he kissed her again, gentler this time, letting the fire grow once more between them before he pulled her dress from her body and his shirt and trousers from his. Then, he entered her heat once more and thrust into her. He moved slowly at first, but the fire grew and burned hotter and hotter until he was making the bed shake from the force of his movements. She cried out in pleasure over and over, building higher until she cried out his name as her body shuddered around his stiff manhood, pulling him over with her with his seed spilling inside her. He cried out as he spilt himself inside her and panted as he lay on top of her until both their bodies had cooled. In the morning, he would announce their engagement and he would have a ring made for her to wed her with. But for then, they slept peacefully in eachother's arms.


	44. Chapter Forty Three

_**A/N: Aaaah a dead sea mineral face mask and Tazo iced green tea. w makes one feel good. Not much going on. I got some stuff put up in my new room! I put up my comic volume binders up on the shelf papa gave me with my DVDs and video tapes:3 I also hung up my great granpa's old map of the Caribbean and put up the Chinese silk tapestry that I got from his house as well when he died. I also put up my Sweeny Todd movie poster and my Hogwarts banner over my TV. XD AWESOME! I'M DECORTATING AGAIN!! o3o oooooh I can't wait to actually truly be living here….**_

_**-.o and it seems I'm allergic to whatever is in this other mask I've got. My face turned bright red and hot after I washed the stuff off. Weird.**_

_**Chapter Forty-Three**_

Cuchulainn sat outside underneath the tree where the ogham stone sat looking over his wife's grave. His back leaned against the tree as he set his arms on his drawn up knees. The breeze had a chill to it, though not unpleasant.

"I ask you, Emer… am I wrong in wishing to marry again?" he said softly. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree, letting the gentle chilly breeze move over him. "I wasn't here to protect you because the very woman I wish to marry had taken me away from you. Of course I was never really good at staying in one spot and the little queen knows this. She even kept it bottled up inside her to keep from speaking what she wanted. I had to coax it out of her with a goodly number of m'charms." He rubbed his face and sighed. "The people don't like her; I know this from watching them talk about her disappearance and what Fergus has told me."

He watched the grass for a moment before sitting. "Hmmh! It seems I'm in a bit of a problem, hmmm?"

Indeed, the people of Ireland made the cruelest of jokes about the queen of Briton; often, however, they simply were just glad that they had their beloved Cuchulainn and not her for their leader. He had told the little woman that he would marry her and he would, but he could not promise any sort of real peace for them nor could he promise that he would always stay by her side. That had been why she had refused to speak her heart to him and why he had to coax her so hard to get her to talk. She was afraid she would bind him down, keep him caged, the way she did everything else in her vicinity.

He thought about it and wondered how on Earth he was going to convince the people of Ireland and Briton that the match was not about him being completely mad. Indeed, he sometimes thought he was mad for feeling so alone with out the little queen; wanting her near and yet repulsed by his desire for her. One part of him hated her, another part loved her. He simply couldn't figure out which it was that had control over his senses.

Small hands touched his face and stroked his hair with light movements, as though the person were afraid to even touch him. He opened his eyes and smiled faintly at the face of Arturia, half hidden by the simple hood she wore over her head. "You'll catch your death if you don't wear something warmer," she said, looking away as a small blush filtered into her cheeks.

"Worried for my well being, little queen?" he said, smirking at her deviously. She stood up sharply and moved away from him, keeping her head down. He sighed and stood up. "You are entirely too stiff, woman. Lighten up a little; the people here don't know it's you."

"There's nothing the matter with me," she said stiffly.

He snorted and put a hand on her head, pushing her down a little. She swatted at him as she pulled away from him, the hood coming off in his hand. He yanked it and pulled her back, her pale hair fairly glowing in the sunlight. "Oi, what's wrong with you, eh? You've been damn near as cold as the weather of your own land since I accepted your proposal. I haven't told the people yet, but I will soon enough." He pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her, looking down at her. She wouldn't look at him, simply looking at his chest and nothing else. "My eyes are up here, y'know," he said, grinning as her ears turned a little pink along with her cheeks. "What are you so afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," she said. "I simply thought you should be informed that the chilly weather should be treated with a warmer set of garments rather than sitting out here and waiting for death." She even spoke to his chest!

Her pale hair was messy from his mistreatment of her hood. He chuckled and attempted to pat it down, though this did little good. "If you are to be my wife, I have a small set of rules you must adhere to," he said softly. She still wouldn't look up at him and didn't speak; the shell firmly in place over her entire being. He hated that shell of hers! "If we are to wed, you must look at me when you speak to me, you can't be so quiet with me either…" She looked up at him and he grinned down at her, putting his hands on her shoulders as he moved away slightly and leaned down so she didn't have to look up as far. "I'm not always going to be there… I can't, it's not in me to be in one place forever. We'll be constantly moving back and forth between this land and yours simply to rule both. My steward can handle things and so can your knights. But above all else, you have to not hide behind that shell you always hold up around yourself. You can do it to anyone else, but to me… you have to take it down and let me see you for who you are."

She looked at him and he could see a good bit of turmoil inside them. They were no longer as cold and unfeeling as she made them normally; the shell she wore was breaking down a little bit to reveal her true self to him in that moment. "You… might not want me… if you knew who I really was," she said softly. As quickly as he saw it, the shell came up over her again, her eyes grew cold and she moved away from him, pulling the hood up over her head.

"I have already ordered a ring to be made… I think you'll like it," he said, smiling faintly at her. "As well as a necklace and earrings and bracelet to compliment it."

She turned her back to him and he grunted at her. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and eyed her coolly. "I said I'm marrying you and I will. I'll take you and that desolate land you call home as my own and live with it."

"Are you certain?" she said softly. "What if I cage you up? What if I force you into positions that contradict your nature? I will break you and turn you into a shell of yourself if you do marry me, Cuchulainn. My true nature is that of the raging beast that tore you limb from limb."

Cuchulainn watched her a moment before she started to walk off. He frowned deeply as he watched her. He started to feel an odd pain in his heart as he thought about what she had said. It was the sort of thing he had claimed of her before he had seen what lay beneath the icy surface. It was too much of a coincidence to just be false. She showed it each time he pulled her into his arms and took her in her bed. There was a scared little girl inside her, one that had never been allowed to show herself until now. She had been brow beaten and ignored until Merlin came, but he doubted Merlin was able to pull such things out of her even if she was a child. After all, Merlin had helped orchestrate her conception and brought her up as he would a boy to make her the king of Briton; he had not brought her up as he would a daughter who had been so cruelly mistreated simply for a failure of a man who helped conceive her.

Fergus walked toward him and he walked to his foster father with a small smile. Behind him, he saw Elish and Caley running after him. He plucked them both up and held them in his strong arms, kissing them on their round cheeks. "They follow me everywhere nowadays," said Fergus, laughing.

Elish pouted faintly and hugged onto Cuchulainn's neck. Cuchulainn smiled faintly and shrugged. "They like their 'grandfather'," he said.

Fergus smiled faintly at Cuchulainn and shook his head. He looked away toward the castle. "Your little queen has been fairly silent," he said, "I wonder what you have done to make her so quiet?"

"She spends the grand majority of her life like that, old man," said Cuchulainn, shaking his head, "I have only been working every chance I've got to pull that woman out of the damned shell she keeps o'er herself." He sighed and looked to his little girls thoughtfully. "I want to marry her," he said.

Caley blinked at Cuchulainn and poked him on his cheek, looking a little irritated. Fergus eyed him for a moment. "Do you know what you are doing, lad?"

Cuchulainn crouched down and put Elish and Caley on their feet. "Aye, I do, Fergus. I've been thinking on it since I told her I would. In the heat o' the moment, one can hardly be trusted to their word, but… I have been thinking on it. She's tried to make me change my mind, saying she'll cage me up should she become my wife."

"Is that small girl going to be our new mam?" asked Caley, looking angry. Elish looked from her to him several times before looking curious.

"She's not a small girl," said Cuchulainn. "She is a woman and daddy wishes to marry her, so yes, she'll be your new mam."

"I don't want a new mammy!" Caley shoved at Cuchulainn and ran off quickly, Elish watching him with a curious expression, one very similar to Emer.

"What do you think of this, Elish?" he said as he stroked her hair. "Are you as angry as Caley for da wanting to give you a new mother?"

Elish gazed at him a moment before reaching her hands up to him, putting them on his cheeks. He blinked at her as did Fergus. "She's scared like sister," said the little girl. "She's scared and sister is scared too."

Cuchulainn watched his little girl a moment before picking her up and standing. "Aye, she's scared because Da makes her afraid, Elish. She's afraid because she wants to be good, I think, and afraid she can't be good."

Elish snuggled against him and mumbled as she hugged his neck. "Caley is afraid that the lady will take away mam, but mam is not gone. Mam's always here."

Fergus and Cuchulainn watched Elish carefully. The girl had always been rather quiet, though laughing happily and playing normally with her sister. She hardly ever said anything, but enjoyed the company of people around her and playing around. Could it be that the girl could discern people's emotions from watching them and listening?

"She's a lot like her mother," said Fergus. "Very perceptive."

"Yes, she is," said Cuchulainn as he rubbed Elish's back. "I better find Caley before she runs off too far." He handed Elish to Fergus and nodded to him and ran off.

"How do you know your mother is always here, Elish?" asked Fergus.

"Jus' know," said Elish softly.

* * *

"I know you've been going through my things, Emiya," said Merlin as he sat down in a chair. Emiya looked at him coldly, giving Merlin a strange feeling in his spine as he gazed at him. This man in front of him was no longer the little boy he helped train. "Arturia wishes to stay inside the school until further notice. She doesn't wish for you to come to her."

Emiya's eyes narrowed at him and Merlin glared at him, getting irritated at his behavior. "You're keeping me from my queen and I will find a way to her, whether I have your cooperation or not," said Emiya.

Merlin flicked his wand, watching Emiya tremble and twist slightly in his chair, eyes and mouth clenched shut in silent pain. Merlin hated using these spells for this reason, but the man was becoming harder and harder to deal with. It had begun to get to the point where he feared for his own safety. "Listen to me, Emiya… I will not have you trashing my room anymore, nor will you try to get to the school. Arturia is safe and being well cared for. I relay information back and forth and help run this kingdom, though like I actually want such a responsibility. Do not do anymore to look for her or you will have me to deal with, do you understand?"

Emiya choked out a response and Merlin moved his wand away from him, feeling a bit disgusting for having used such techniques for the man's cooperation. "Leave now, Emiya, and go do whatever it is you're supposed to do. For the time being until Arturia comes home, you will not to come into my room again, is that clear?" Emiya glared at him and moved out of his chair toward the door.

Merlin watched Emiya walk out and sighed in relief when the man had gone. The man had become very odd since the disappearance of Arturia, more obsessive about serving her. He already wouldn't listen or do what anyone else would ask of him, but now he had an even smugger look on his face every time someone looked at him.

Merlin sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking to the door. He would have to keep a very close watch on the man. The man was becoming more and more unpredictable the longer Arturia stayed away. He frowned as a thought occurred to him. Perhaps he should allow the man to go to Hogwarts simply to make certain Arturia didn't want him there.

He picked up the mirror and spoke to it until someone appeared in it. It looked to be Tom, looking a little bored and a bit irritated to be bothered. "Yes, Merlin, what is it you want?"

Merlin smiled faintly at Tom and nodded to him. "Is Arturia there? I wish to speak with her."

"She's off to Ireland, Ulster I think she said… said she had something to do there. She's been very quiet, so I trust she won't do anything foolish for the time being, but I put a tracer on her in case I was wrong," said Tom, smoothing his hair.

"Ireland? She went to Ulster, you say?" Merlin was a bit irritated that Arturia persisted after Cuchulainn and a little worried she was doing something everyone would regret. "Thank you, sir." The mirror went back to his reflection as he touched the mirror again. This was the only other mirror besides the one he normally used to communicate with that he had. He knew Emiya had the first and found himself feeling a little vengeful toward him for taking it, but continued to say a spell to direct the mirror toward his other contact.

Fergus appeared in the mirror and grinned at him. "Merlin, old man, good news to you! Arturia and the lad are getting married!"

Merlin landed on the floor on his rear with a loud "THUMP". He grunted as he rubbed his rear and got back into his chair. "What was that again?"

"I said the lad and the little queen are getting married!" said Fergus, watching Merlin with some surprise.

Merlin frowned and leaned back in his chair. "They are? Are you certain that such a thing isn't just Cuchulainn being beguiled by Arturia or something to that effect?"

Fergus grunted indignantly and thumped the glass of the mirror with his fingers. "Listen, you old mage, I asked the little queen to come because she seemed worried and she spent the night with the lad when she arrived and the next day Cuchulainn told me he was marrying Arturia. However, Arturia doesn't want to…."

That was all Merlin needed. So it wasn't Arturia that was insisting upon wedding the Irish king, but the king himself that insisted upon it. It was the first time in a very long time since he had brought up the girl that she seemed to show the slightest bit of remorse for something, as she most like felt about Cuchulainn. It would increase her empire and lands if she was to marry the king of Ireland and yet they had to convince her of it. That alone spoke volumes of what was more than likely going through her mind.

He got up after Fergus disappeared and went out. He didn't see Emiya hiding, nor did he see Emiya move to the door. Emiya, however, was shot backward as he tripped upon a spell on the door. He didn't cry out in pain. He bit his hand to keep from saying anything as he gathered himself up and ran to find where Merlin went.

* * *

"She's going to be married? That's great!!" said Gawain, laughing.

"Wonder how the people will take this," said Bedivere.

"Judging by how they treated her absence, not very well," said Lancelot.

"So who is she marrying?" asked Gaheris.

"King Cuchulainn of Ireland," said Merlin as he leaned back in his chair.

The knights collectively nearly fell out of their seats. "What?!" cried Galahad, spluttering.

Merlin smiled faintly and nodded at them. "She's planned to wed his royal highness King Cuchulainn of Ireland within the month over there… however, they're still trying to convince her of it."

Gawain frowned. "She's not accepting it? Then, why is she marrying him?"

"I have no idea, but it seems the wedding is still going to happen, that's what the steward of Ulster told me," said Merlin. "As an advisor to you lot, I felt it was my duty to inform you of this."

"Pardon our behavior, Merlin, we're simply surprised is all," said Bedivere. He frowned and rubbed his face. "Men, the people will hear of this eventually…"

"Aye, we should tell them soon what has become of their queen," said Gawain.

Lancelot looked to them and nodded. "I will do whatever needs to be done, my friends. I have joined your ranks in order to be of use to you; then let me do so."

Bedivere nodded to Lancelot and looked to the table in front of him, his name inscribed into the wood. "We'll have a great many problems, you realize."

"Many of us realize that this means Ireland and Briton will be brought together, Bedivere," said Gareth, "But I'm certain that for the moment, things will be all right." Bedivere nodded to him and stood up. The other knights followed suit and they walked out, leaving Merlin to gaze at the table.

"So she's managed to win the old hound's heart," he muttered. He closed his eyes and sighed. "But for what price?"


	45. Chapter Forty Four

_**A/N: In my house again. w mom is home and talking to my gran. Bleh. Can't figure out for the life of me where I put the little Ed picture that I was going to put up next to my light switch. w;; **_

_**And I still have to go through my closet and grab my dolls. w;;**_

_**aaaaaaand I'm in Houston at the moment with my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jim. I'mma goin' to the renfaire here in Houston and I'mma goin' in costume:3 Also, I think my mom has gotten more despicable. I think she's hiding shit away so we can't take it with us, such as silverware and claiming it's just… gone missing. Also it seems she thinks my shelves that she GAVE me "belong with the house". Guh!**_

_**Chapter Forty-Four**_

The Knights got a reaction they had not expected. The people were cheering joyously at the news of their queen getting married to King Cuchulainn of Ireland. Gawain stared at the lot of them, perplexed by their reaction, but happy they weren't shouting or angry. Bedivere frowned faintly as he eyed the lot of them. When all seemed done, the knights and people resumed their duties and the town was buzzing with the news. Women would gossip and men laugh heartily over the choice their queen made.

Gawain still looked a bit like a fish out of water as his mouth gaped open in astonishment over the reaction they received. Gareth patted his older brother on the shoulder and shook his head. "Don't think on it, Gawain… we have no idea what they think anymore than what the queen thinks. It's better to just take the reaction for what it is and be thankful we don't have to quell a riot."

Agravaine leaned back against the wall behind him and eyed the doors. "I have a bad feeling something is brewing up."

"You and your bad feelings," snorted Gaheris. "Gawain's the one that got any sort of gift from mother, not you."

Agravaine rolled his eyes and walked off, leaving the rest of them behind. Gareth glared slightly at Gaheris. "Intuition and such things are good to listen to, Gaheris, even if you don't take too much stock in them yourself. Bedivere, could you ask Emiya to take a look around tonight and see if Agravaine's worries are real or not?"

Bedivere nodded and walked off to the queen's chambers where Emiya slept. Gawain patted Gaheris and Gareth on their shoulders and nodded. "Now, lads, we need to get moving and oversee the development of the soldier ranks! I have been hearing they've been getting very shoddy with their practice!"

Galahad looked to Gawain and trailed after him as they walked off down the hall to the training grounds. Lancelot was left to Bors, who pulled him off to work outside with some farmers who needed extra hands and didn't have any.

It took some doing, but Bedivere managed to get Emiya to agree to do as he bid, though the frightening look of the man was enough to chill Bedivere to the bone. He was not easily frightened, but the cold glare that he received from Emiya made him suddenly feel as though he should watch his back.

When night came, Emiya went into the town as he was bid. In the tavern, the men and women of the town ate and drank and laughed. It was nothing worthy of any real notice. He kept his "wastelander" hood up as he walked among the people. He saw a "wastelander" here and there, but knew they tended to keep to themselves in the ruins, coming only to work or get supplies.

A couple of men drinking near the window of the tavern laughed boisterously as he stopped and moved further into the shadows. He supposed he was being rather stupid, but one never could tell what one would say whilst drunk off his keister. When the men simply told dirty jokes to one another, he decided to move on with some frustration.

"Finally, mate… we're getting a king for the throne that'll keep that woman strapped down and off our backs!" said one of the men. Emiya stopped and moved further into the shadows to listen quietly.

"Keep her where she belongs, mate, that's what he'll do. We can' take much more o' that woman… she keeps us under her thumb and whips us all with rules and regulations and those knights don't have a bliven clue!" said the other man, snorting a little.

"Try to tell 'em what she's like to us and they tell us where to stick it! Don't believe a word any one of us says at all! They're too loyal to that woman."

"And the fact that she still looks like a half grown girl… she's lucky she got any sort of attention at all! Dunno 'bout you, mate, but I like 'em with biiiiig—!"

"Yeah! Or at least not lookin' like she's just come of age to marry a stupid little blighter like that Galahad!"

"Reckon he'll put 'er on a leash and make 'er crawl on the streets when he comes in with 'er?" laughed the first one.

"Oi, yeah… the conquering hero! Took her to bed and left her for dead!" laughed the second one.

The faint sound of metal scraping against metal was the only sound they heard before short, curved swords cut off their heads against the wall of the tavern, their blood running over their jerking bodies and spilling over the frozen wood of the tavern porch. Women screamed when they saw the blood on the window. Outside, men and women cried out in surprise at the sight of the two bodies lying dead on the ground. No where they looked could reveal who had performed such a murder, and yet, they knew who it could only have been. The one they feared and hated more than the queen herself, Emiya, the queen's spy.

* * *

Ulster buzzed with the news of Cuchulainn marrying again to the queen of Briton. They had not even had the wedding yet, but the news of the engagement had been spread out far over the lands of Ireland.

Cuchulainn, however, was still having difficulties with Arturia. He found her sitting in a chair in front of the window near the bed, staring out at the sky. Her pale hair was lovely beyond words as the sun made it glitter like the glitter of the palest gold. She still wore that black dress she always wore, however, with its lace undergown and black stockings and boots. He approached her from behind and leaned down near her ear. "Why do you hesitate?"

"Why do you wish to marry so quickly?"

Cuchulainn grunted and frowned faintly as he straightened up. Truth be told, he was never one to really think to clearly on things before acting on his thoughts and feelings. He looked away for a moment as he thought of Emer, sitting down on the bed. She had told him herself that she knew he was as wild as the wind and could not be held down to any one place. He knew this of himself more than anyone else, for it caused him some grief when he realized what toll it took on Emer. When the little queen had told him, after a great deal of coaxing on his part, that she wished to marry him, he had the same feeling of joy inside him as he had when he took Emer's hand.

"It isn't so much as so quickly…. As it is.. I want to do it because I want to," he said softly. "You've not been eating that well." He looked to her and watched her carefully, noting that she looked a bit tired.

Arturia didn't say anything; she simply looked out the window and fingered what looked like a necklace in her hands in her lap. "I haven't been feeling that well… I wake up nauseous." She rubbed her face and groaned softly. "And when I smell food, I feel nauseous all over again. It's as though my body is rejecting me."

All thought shut down inside Cuchulainn's brain as the color drained from his skin. He recalled such symptoms and if Arturia was having them, which would be unsurprising given how often they made love; that meant they had few options to them. If she didn't marry him, she would bear his bastard, which he was certain he had already caused a goodly number to do aside from Aife, and have even fewer people taking her seriously as a queen than she had before. If she did marry him, there wouldn't really be a problem anymore; the only problem he faced then was her people and the Britons were not known for liking the Irish much or the Scots.

"Have one of the healers here talk to you," he said softly. "Tell them your symptoms and answer their questions. Do you understand?"

Arturia looked over at him finally, blinking at him oddly as though she were surprised. She nodded after a moment and stood up. She wobbled a bit and caught the chair back with her hand, steadying herself as Cuchulainn shot to his feet and rushed over to her. She held up a hand and moved away from him and the chair before walking out the door. Cuchulainn frowned deeply, scratching his chest through the neck of his shirt as he watched her leave. What was it about her that he so desperately needed? What was it about her that caused him to care for the little woman even though she had shown herself repeatedly to be callous and calculating?

He sat down once more on his bed and lay back, closing his eyes. He recalled what she had told him of her early life, recalled what she had said about how she grew up in the hands of her own mother and sister, how she grew up at the hands of Merlin, how she took the throne as she was meant to do since she was born. He recalled it and it made him frown all the more deeply. If he wasn't careful, his face was going to look as lined as an old tree!

She was afraid. She was afraid of doing to him what she had before. While it was a noble feeling to be afraid of herself; it was becoming quite tedious in this affair. He loved her, he knew that. He couldn't deny the feeling in his heart when he was near her or saw her walking toward him. This feeling had grown in her absence, taken root when he left to come home and see his children, sprouted when he realized the truth of the matters with his beautiful Emer, and blossomed into a grand feeling in his chest the first moment he realized she had come to find him. He knew she felt it as well and yet she still denied herself the truth of it.

He had to figure a way to make her his wife and show the people of Ireland just what their future queen was made of. He grinned as a thought occurred to him and then sat up looking as though the devil himself had inhabited his body and made him move to the doors and leave the room quickly, laughing maniacally as he did so.

* * *

Gilgamesh eyed his son Enkidu oddly. The baby cooed and gurgled at him, bright red eyes shining up at him as he lay in the crib that he had made for him. Enkidu had his mother's eye shape, slanted and almond shaped, dark auburn hair on his head and eyelashes offsetting the look of him. Enkidu's sister and brother lay in their cribs nearby, wet nurses coming to feed or take care of them when their own mothers couldn't come.

The reason the king of the new Babylon looked so odd as he stared at his children? Gilgamesh was never quite certain how to take care of or handle children, much less babies. He was often quite sure he'd hurt one of them should he do something off with them, so he mostly avoided them. Either that or they'd do something to mess up his appearance. Mostly, however, he just wasn't certain how to deal with them. Imani and Jalila were easy to deal with since he had not really done much with them due to their mothers having hated him for so long. The girls were naturally curious about him and so when they came to him was when he had the chance to be any sort of father to them.

Enkidu gurgled at him and grabbed Gilgamesh's hand. Gilgamesh blinked at him and leaned down further. The boy laughed and clapped his hands together before putting them on Gilgamesh's face. Gilgamesh blinked in confusion as to what made the baby so happy. As he gazed at the child, he thought for a moment and gently picked the baby up and held him as he had seen his wives and the nurses do. The little baby boy snuggled against Gilgamesh and almost immediately fell asleep in his arms. Gilgamesh felt a strange tug inside him as he gazed down at the boy.

"Gilgamesh?" Mei walked in wearing her silk robes as she was accustomed to wearing. Her hair was pulled back in a braid, however, not to the standards she had been so used to wearing it up in.

Gilgamesh turned to her and a strange feeling came over him. Mei blinked and gazed at him with those gold eyes of hers in surprise. He blinked when he felt wetness rolling down his cheek. "M..Mei?"

Mei walked over and put her hands on Gilgamesh's cheeks. "Is something the matter, my husband?"

Gilgamesh shook his head and looked down at the child in his arms. "I feel… very happy…"

Mei smiled warmly at him after a moment and kissed him gently. "Then, your tears are for joy… joy of your son in your arms? Joy of your children near you and your wives who love you?"

Gilgamesh looked like a lost boy himself, his eyes wide in wonder and just a little fear. Mei wrapped her arms around him and kisses his shoulder and Enkidu's forehead in turn. "You do not have to speak," she said softly, "Simply be happy and enjoy this moment, for it will not last."

Gilgamesh eyed his little Asian wife and leaned down, kissing her. She responded to him and kissed him back before he put Enkidu slowly in his crib and walked out with Mei.

* * *

"Congratulations… you're pregnant."

Arturia's mind stopped and froze on the spot. She stared at the nurse in front of her as she smiled at her with a knowing grin. The woman's smile alone made Arturia's blood freeze in her veins, though the woman was being very kind to her.

"P…pardon?" Arturia wasn't quite certain she heard the woman right.

"You're pregnant," said the nurse once more, looking confused as to why Arturia seemed to refuse to believe what she said. "Is there a problem with this, your majesty? You are going to marry Lord Cuchulainn, correct? Is it not a good thing you will be bearing a child of his?"

Arturia's mind still was blank and frozen solid. She nodded stiffly and stood slowly, walking to the door of the infirmary inside the castle. "Th… thank you," she said before she stiffly walked out and kept walking with no real aim in mind as to where she wanted to head.

She stopped when she saw the boots of one very familiar with her. "So did she tell you?" asked Cuchulainn, smiling faintly at her as he crossed his arms in front of him. He leaned on the wall beside him, watching her with those red eyes of his that seemed to draw her into a web that she had once thought she had mastered. Now, she knew the truth. She was not the master anymore, but the mastered.

"Y… yes, she did," said Arturia before steeling herself ready for any sort of mockery or emotional let down. Cuchulainn watched it come over her like armor. "What do you suppose I should do, King Cuchulainn?" she said softly.

Cuchulainn snorted and moved away from the wall toward her. He brushed her shoulder as he walked past and stopped. "I don't want to fight a pregnant woman, but for these matters, I think its best." He turned and looked over his shoulder at her. "If you beat me in a fair fight, you may do whatever you wish with the nurses pertaining to that babe in your belly and the idea of marriage. If I win against you, you must marry me and bear me that babe," he said, smirking at her faintly.

Arturia frowned. "Would that not endanger the child inside me?"

"Oh, concerned for its welfare are you?" he said, mocking her.

She glared at him, showing the spark of life he knew she held inside her. "I will not be goaded so rudely," she said, the chill in her voice palpable, "I am only concerned that if I should lose to you that the child might not come out of it alive or very well. I am small and my body not fully grown."

"Women of your body's age bear children all the time, dear Arturia," said Cuchulainn, turning around and facing her fully. "You are small, but I feel you will bear good healthy children despite even the punishment you put yourself through."

Arturia frowned even more and eyed him suspiciously. He smirked a little more, putting more charm into it as he leaned down toward her. "Do you accept my price, dear little queen?" he said, smirking deviously at her.

Her pale cheeks flushed faintly and she moved away from him. "Very well, I will go with your terms. However, be prepared to lose this match…. I've already done much to you already that you should not have forgotten so soon." There was no malice in her tone; it was merely reminding him that she had indeed done far worse to him than he had done to her. Even killing her he had not maimed her like she had done to him.

He snorted and moved away from her. "Meet me outside tomorrow. I will not come to the bed tonight so that you may remember what it is like to not have me beside you."

Arturia's cheek flushed a bit more and she walked hurriedly down the hall to get away from him. He was making her heart pound in her chest and already her breasts felt as though they needed his particular attentions. He would not win this battle!

However… did she really want to win?


	46. Chapter Forty Five

_**A/N: Still in Houston and finally got some yellow crystals for my grandma Deana on my mom's side of the family. I'll make a necklace as soon as I'm able as well as a bracelet if I have enough. I also got some fiery ones that are absolutely gorgeous! You can bet I'll be making use out of those!! I've been looking all over for those!!**_

_**Other than that, not much is going on. I played tripoly with my aunt Joyce, my uncle Jim, my cousin Jeff and his son Garrett, and my gran. My Aunt won the biggest pot of it all, so we called it game and went on. Tomorrow is turkey day so lots of people are going to be over then. .**_

_**I wish I didn't have to wait to post these. w;; Unfortunately, they don't have wifi, so I can't piggyback. I don't think I have the cable to use to connect to their modem, so…**_

_**Chapter Forty-Five**_

People stood around the circle that Fergus drew for Arturia and Cuchulainn. They stood around, watching, wondering what was going to happen. Cuchulainn was busy putting on his armor and whatnot, putting on the earrings that Emer had given him before testing his fake hand inside the glove on it. He wasn't very certain how the prosthetic covering would hold against the punishment it was about to receive, but he was not going to take his chances.

Arturia walked up in the black armor that he knew came from the sword she carried. The red lines in it looked more like blood veins than decoration. Perhaps the armor really was alive! He summoned his spear and stabbed it into the ground to keep it in place while he tied down his hair. The people murmured as he readied himself, some of the girls coming toward him looking worried.

"M'lord Cuchulainn, why are you fighting her?"

"It is… a wager I have made with her," he said, grinning at them with his best smile. They blushed faintly and looked away from him to each other. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and found Arturia watching them with that famous chilly mask of hers firmly in place. "If I win, she has to marry me," said Cuhculainn.

The girls looked from one another and back to him once more, some of the men nearby laughed. "She's so tiny, you'll break her!" cried one of the men.

"I thought you were getting married already!" said one of the girls.

"Aye, that was the plan. However, I've made a small bet with her that she can beat me should she wish to break it off." He shrugged and tested his gloves again as Fergus came nearer. "But I think I'll win," he said and winked at them, sending them all into a fit of giggles.

Fergus stood in the center of the ring. He eyed them both and nodded. "All right, you two. Now…. The rules are simple. The one who gives in is the loser. Don't step out of the ring and don't kill each other. No cheap shots, either." He looked to Arturia, who didn't actually seem to be looking at him and leaned closer. "And be careful, lass. Please!"

Arturia moved away from him and went over to where her sword and scabbard lay on the ground. She picked them up and unsheathed her sword, laying Avalon on the ground at the edge of the circle. Fergus nodded and moved back into the crowd to keep from getting in the way. Cuchulainn backed up and pulled his spear up, taking his stance and holding his spear ready.

"You can stop this you know," he said, for once not looking as though he were mocking her. "Just say the words and this can all be over."

"I do not allow myself to be defeated by anyone, dear Cuchulainn," she said, her voice cold and unfeeling. "Not even by you…. Or have you forgotten what I can be like."

"Fine, have it your way then," he said before he shot forward at a speed unlike anything Arturia had ever seen. He took her by surprise and it took all she had to block the blow he sent her, knocking her back several feet.

Arturia, however, skidded to a halt on those heeled boots of hers and regained her bearings in time to suffer another assault from Cuchulainn. He had never shown such speed before, though she had known he had had it in him to do so! Did he want to win against her that badly? She blocked and jabbed at him, almost getting caught in the trap of his spear as he twisted it to catch her sword and move it away from him.

"Stop trying to get in and get in!" he snarled.

Arturia flinched and kicked the grass and dirt into his face before moving away from him and hitting the switch that allowed Excalibur to break apart into a whip. Cuchulainn wiped his face as fast as he could as he heard the chain like sound of her whip and ducked down as she sent it lashing out at him. The crowd moved away, screams from the women and shouts of surprise from the men. "What sort of witch are you!" cried a few of the men.

She sent it lashing out again and felt a small splatter of blood hit her face. Cuchulainn shouted in pain and hit the ground on his knee, holding himself up by this spear. Arturia stopped for a moment, looking for the briefest moment uncertain, giving him enough time to scramble backward before her sword-whip slashed out at him once more. He got to his feet and looked to the wound on his real arm, the blood oozing from the space between the plates on him. She'd had a lucky shot, but that was the least of his worries!

She made another round and he ran at her, ducking down and rolling across the ground back into a crouch where he shoved his spear at her shoulder. Arturia didn't even cry out in pain, she simply stared at him in mild surprise as her sword came back together. He pulled the spear out of her shoulder and watched the blood come out of the wound as he made another twist and brought the spear down in a slashing motion. She blocked him with her sword and backed away, holding her shoulder. The crowd cheered and Arturia growled low in her throat as she glared at Cuchulainn. "Never said I would pull m'punches, love," he said, the lance balanced on his shoulder in a rather mocking pose, "Just going by the rules."

She charged at him and he moved backward way from the sword, blocking with his spear until he managed to force it off him, twisting around again with his spear and caught her on her side with the pole. She yelped in pain and staggered away clutching her side. He moved back, no longer looking as though he were having fun or even mocking her. He held a serious look of concern on his face as he watched her.

However, the break didn't last long; once more she ran at him and moved backward to avoid her. Her sword was hard to beat, but if he could redirect it, he would be able to get a hit in. Her face had the creeping black armor coming up on both sides, her eyes growing angrier with every hit he managed to land on her. "Give it up, Arturia!!" snarled Cuchulainn, growing angry that she continued to endanger herself so.

"NEVER!" she cried and caught his spear, spinning him around and slashing his back with the blade in her hands. He cried out in pain and rolled away, women crying out as blood spilled from his back slowly.

Arturia came at him again and kicked him in the side, grabbing his head, her eyes wild. She pulled him up by his hair and glared down at him coldly. "I told you once already, Cuchulainn… I will never be beaten."

Cuchulainn grinned up at her, blood oozing out of the right corner of his mouth. "You over estimate your opponents once more, dear queen!" She hardly had a moment to register before he hit her square on her chest, knocking her backward away from him several feet. He landed on his face and stood up slowly. She groaned and lifted herself up slowly, trembling with effort.

Cuchulainn didn't give her a moment to spare. He came at her and hit her on her shoulder blades with the pole of his spear, knocking her down onto her face, though he missed her foot swining out and hitting his feet. He cried out in pain as he landed on his injured back, blood spurting out from his mouth as the wind was knocked out of him.

Fergus moved closer, watching who would get up first. At first, it looked as though they had finished each other off; neither one of the opponents seemed ready to get up or even willing to do so. Then, as if on cue, Cuchulainn stood slowly using his spear to do so. His entire attention was directed at Arturia. He didn't move toward her, though she moaned in pain. Cuchulainn flicked his gaze to Fergus and nodded to him. Fergus walked over to Arturia and lifted her up. "She's down, lad. The bet's been won," he said softly to Cuchulainn before shouting to the crowd, "The game goes to Cuchulainn!!"

The crowd cheered loudly, shouting congratulations to Cuchulainn on his victory over the Queen of Briton and taking her as his bride, for she had shown herself to be a grand fighter against their lord. Cuchulainn, however, only looked as though he were himself. Doctors came over to him and started healing him up on the spot, however he still held a great grin of confidence toward his fellows. Inside, though, he felt sick. As much as he enjoyed a good fight between capable fighters, fighting Arturia left him feeling dirty. She had been right to be concerned. With her pregnant, the chances of her losing the baby due to his irresponsibility in waging such a bet with her were staggering. He could only hope and pray to whatever gods watched over them that the baby would be all right, for he knew Arturia would be well.

* * *

Arturia groaned when she came to. The hit to her back had done something to her to make her black out. Aside from the force he had hit her with; the blood loss from the stab would have also caused her to lose strength. With her own body in tact, as far as she could tell, the next problem was….

Arturia's eyes shot open and she clutched her belly. She felt a warm hand cover hers and looked up to see the relieved face of Fergus gazing down at her. "Silly woman, you could have just declined the battle and saved yourself some trauma."

Arturia frowned faintly as she leaned her head back into her pillow. Fergus shook his head and moved away from her. "Sleep. You need sleep, little one. The little babe in your belly is fine for now… just don't do something so rash again!" Then, he walked out of the infirmary.

Arturia rubbed her belly and frowned faintly, not certain why it was that she continued to feel so strange. Was it because the baby was important to her? It would jeopardize her position as Queen of Briton should she have a child outside of marriage.

It was then that she noticed a lone figure not far off, leaning on a blood red spear and looking either very relieved or very angry. He stalked forward and plucked her up by her shoulders and kissed her hard, breaking open her mouth with an animal like growl escaping his throat. When he broke away, he gazed at her through his lashes and kissed her forehead. "Damn us both for being so pigheaded," he said softly.

Arturia gazed up at him, her cheeks flushed and her lips now swollen from his kiss. "You… have won the game, Cuchulainn," she said after a moment.

Cuchulainn grunted and laid her back, moving away with a hand on his face, rubbing his face as he sat down on the chair next to the pallet she lay on. "I had hoped that my wager would not truly endanger the child, for I bargained on you being too distracted by it to fight me. Instead, you fought me full force, only straying from killing me. If that child were to be hurt inside you while it was still growing, I…"

Arturia blinked at Cuchulainn in surprise; watching him almost crumble on the spot was difficult to see. "You… challenged me to a wager, that you could beat me in a fight and should I win I would be able to do as I wished. You won that wager fairly," she said.

"You were jealous of the girls I flirted with, weren't you."

Arturia flushed faintly and looked away, putting a hand to her heart and clenching her fist there. "I…"

Cuchulainn raised a hand to her and put it on her head, pushing her head down a little bit with the weight of it on her head as he looked away from her. "I know you were jealous, I thought I might rouse you up a little with that. It worked beyond measure, I assure you." He sighed and flushed faintly. "Truth, I would lose, simply to see what you would do on your own."

Arturia looked to her lap. "I will wed you as promised," she said softly.

Cuchulainn pulled her tight against him, forcing her face against his chest. "Don't… you can still choose, because I honestly want to know, you stupid woman. I love you, Arturia. I think I have for a very long time, but my Emer came first before you or anyone else. Now that she is gone I only have you and the ladies around here to turn to." He turned and kissed the top of her head, rubbing her shoulder with the hand that held her to him. "Choose… do you wish to marry me and have that babe inside your womb… or will you leave me?"

Arturia was surprised by the warmth of Cuchulainn's chest, the hardness of it contrasting with her. She could hear the beating of his heart through the clothing that barred her from touching him fully and the bandage wrapped around his torso. She felt a strange feeling in her chest as he spoke, as though her heart tightened up more and more, but seemed to feel oddly wonderful that way. She nuzzled against his chest and raised a hand to him, clutching his tunic with a small, delicate hand. "I will marry you," she said softly as she closed her eyes, "And I will have the baby."

Cuchulainn's grin shot from ear to ear as she spoke. He pulled her up against him and kissed her with as much force as he had displayed before, groaning as she responded to him. When he stopped, he nuzzled against her neck and held her close to him. "Then, we will wed soon and I will be happy once more," he said softly.

Arturia watched him with some uncertainty. He would inevitably leave her side to do things such as care for his new kingdom or flirt with another woman. It was in him to roam and be wild. She could not stop this, though she wished she could. The thing she feared most, however, was not that he would leave, but that she would rip him apart should he do so. Now that things were settled, she could only step forward into whatever new life she had given herself. Cuchulainn was her life now; Camelot was only a portion of her life now, her knights no doubt taking care of things as she stayed away. Her people had wanted a man to rule before and now they had many, but only while she was gone. The sun was very bright in this new world and she was not sure she knew how to handle it at all, but she was willing to try at least.


	47. Chapter Forty Six

_**A/N: It's Thanksgiving and there are soooooooooo many people here. My Uncle Jim gave his brother Uncle Don a set of knives that can actually cut, unlike what he's got at his home in Beaver Creek. (Complete with little girl wrapping paper and a tag that looks like it was originally going to my cousin Dan instead of Don. XD ) My cousin Rachel is here and she's doing whatever Aunt Joyce wants, which is what I ought to be doing, but I'm back in the TV room rather than hanging around in the kitchen right now listening to Aunt Lydia's little Chihuahua whine because no one's paying attention to him. (I can't reach him, so I can't exactly pet him in his little play crib. The crib's to keep him from getting into trouble with the other dog here named Samantha.)**_

_**Once again, I had a glimmer of hope that I could get onto the intarnetz on my little computer, but alas it was not meant to be. Once again the connections were too weak to even allow me some form of access. TT**_

_**In case you're curious, yes I do this all the time. I babble for a little bit just to get started and since people may or may not read it I'm usually talking to them or just getting thoughts out of my head. I do this in my journal as well.**_

_**Chapter Forty-Six**_

The marriage was to be performed in Ireland. Several of Arturia's nobles arrived at the Ulster castle to stay for the wedding, including Lady Gwenivere of Leoness and some of her knights such as Lancelot and Gawain and Bedivere. When they arrived, Arturia was no where to be found by the guests. Cuchulainn did some greeting, but Arturia never showed herself. Merlin arrived at the castle with the few knights who were able to come and wondered why Arturia didn't want to reveal herself to them.

"She's in the bedchamber last I saw of her," said Cuchulainn, looking to the stairs with some concern. "I haven't been able to make her come out, but I expect this sort of behavior is normal. I told her she didn't have to come down if she didn't wish to."

"Yes, it's normal. She doesn't like crowds nor does she like meeting people. She'll do it because it's her position to be hostess, however, if she doesn't have to, she won't do it. She likes her solitude and silence a great deal, something I've always had to deal with from her."

Cuchulainn frowned faintly and shook Merlin's hand, looking very distracted. Merlin eyed him for a moment and moved away from him slightly. "If you are worried for her, should you not go and see to her welfare? Or, if you are unable to get away, go send someone to see to her welfare."

Gawain, however, immediately seemed to pounce upon Cuchulainn with an arm around his neck in an almost crushing headlock. Cuchulainn cried out in surprise and attempted to throw Gawain, but realized who it was when he noticed the flaming red hair. "Sir Gawain?"

Gawain laughed and pulled away from Cuchulainn long enough to put his hands on Cuchulainn's shoulders, grinning broadly at him. "I knew one day that you two would end up falling for one another! It simply seemed inevitable!"

Cuchulainn flushed faintly and laughed. "Aye, possibly, but I it took a fair amount of doing to get here."

Bedivere, however, looked very irritated to see Cuchulainn. Gawain moved away when he saw the older man come closer with his pale hair pulled back into a ponytail behind his head, cinched at the nape of his neck. He eyed Cuchulainn for a moment before bowing to him. "It is an honor to meet you, your highness."

Cuchulainn watched him for a moment before patting him on the shoulder. "Oi, you don't need to bow to me…. At least, not yet," said Cuchulainn, grinning broadly at the one handed knight. This seemed to make Bedivere grow stiffer and eye Cuchulainn warily. Cuchulainn rolled his eyes and moved away from him, going to Lancelot. "And you? I don't recognize you," he said.

Lancelot put a hand to his heart and bowed to the ground on his knee to Cuchulainn. "I am Lancelot du Lac, sire. I have begun serving my queen Arturia not too long ago." He stood up and smiled at Cuchulainn with a small smile. "And you are to be my king, yes? You are to be the husband of the woman I serve and thus I serve you in turn, yes?"

"Aye, that I will be I suppose. Personally, I'm not used to people bowing and whatnot to me. Now, praising me, yes, I'm used to people praising me and girls giggling and blushing at me, but the reverence and the bowing, no." Cuchulainn sighed and scratched his cheek. "Personally, I'd rather just be like you, soldiers and whatnot, doing what I do best and living how I want for the most part. This… this responsibility…"

Bedivere's frown seemed to disappear as he listened and watched Cuchulainn. He had seen the man fight, watched him kill his own friend in a fight to the death, watched the man do many great things and yet he felt an odd irritation toward the man. He might be jealous that the man took his queen's attention away from him, but he was not the sort to be jealous of such a thing. Bedivere sighed and bowed low to Cuchulainn again. "As I said before, it is an honor to meet you for real this time, lord Cuchulainn. Before, I had only met you in passing and had thought little of you. Now, I see I am wrong and so… I bow to you fair hero of Ireland. You will become my new king and so I will serve you as well as my queen to the best of my ability."

Cuchulainn looked very surprised by Bedivere's behavior, but relaxed after a moment, smiling at Bedivere faintly. "Oi, I said no bowing. I told you I wasn't much different than you before, right? I just happened to get the odd end of the stick of fate."

Bedivere nodded as Gawain clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't mind Bedwyr, lord Cuchulainn, he's a bit sour by the fact that you've been hoarding my cousin away in your home for so long. Have her pregnant yet?" said Gawain, grinning impishly at him. Cuchulainn's ears went bright red as he went into a coughing fit. Gawain's grin grew wider still as Bedivere looked very much like he wanted to hit Cuchulainn.

Just then, a pretty little woman came over and smiled charmingly at Cuchulainn. She looked radiant with her dark hair pulled back into a braid behind her head and her lively eyes sparkling at him. She bowed to him gracefully and offered her hand to Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn was speechless as he watched her. She was like Emer, petite with some nice curves on her body and unnatural gracefulness. "Lady Gwenivere of Leoness, currently governing my father's estate in Briton since he has died. You are to be our new King, correct?"

Cuchulainn took a moment before he responded, watching her with a genuine look of awe. He took her hand and bowed down, kissing it before he stood straight and smiled warmly at her. "Aye, I am. It is a pleasure to meet you, dear Lady Gwenivere."

At that moment, Lancelot looked up to see the small beauty and blushed, a feeling of love spreading through his body as he gazed at her. Or was it simply lust? He knew not, but his heart pounded unnaturally in his chest and the sight of her alone made him feel warm and good.

Gawain, however, noticed someone standing at the top of the stairs, a bit of a magic glow to her body as she stood there watching from the first landing. Her gold eyes were trained on Cuchulainn and Gwenivere with a cold mask falling over her face. Gawain punched Cuchulainn's shoulder to get his attention and motioned his head toward the stairs before grinning and bowing to Lady Gwenivere. Cuchulainn blinked and looked up to see Arturia walking away. He frowned and jogged up the stairs after her, his long legs far faster than her short ones. Gwenivere blinked in confusion as to why Cuchulainn left. "Well, that was a bit rude, wasn't it? Just up and left without a word. I hope it wasn't something I said that chased him off."

"It wasn't so much as what you said as what affect you had on him that caused him to leave," said Gawain looking, for the first time, very tired. He smiled faintly at Gwenivere and kissed her hand, patting it before walking off, leaving her to watch him leave with a strange look upon her face.

Cuchulainn grabbed a hold of Arturia's wrist and pulled her to a stop. "What is it that makes you so angry, eh? Why are you upset?"

Arturia didn't turn to him; she simply stayed where she had stopped with her face turned down to the floor. He pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind her, nuzzling into her pale hair. "I won't leave until you speak… I'll coax the truth out of you if I have to, though I think you'd like that prospect too much." Cuchulainn smirked when he saw her ears turn pink.

"I don't need to say anything, the truth itself is clear enough," she said softly.

"What truth?" He narrowed his eyes at her and gazed at her through his lashes, slowly lowering his real hand over her body. He dipped his hand into the open front of her bodice and rubbed one of her breasts, feeling her nipple bud in his palm. She trembled and leaned against him, moaning softly. He leaned into her neck and pressed his mouth against her white flesh, flicking his tongue where he left his kisses and nipping gently at her. He moved to her ear and whispered, "What truth, Arturia?"

Arturia's mind seemed to be going blank. Why had she been angry to begin with? She reached up to move Cuchulainn away from her neck, though she enjoyed every bit of torture he gave her, she simply couldn't think with all of his "coaxing". She felt his mouth surround and suck on her fingers, his tongue wrapping around them one by one.

He pinched Arturia's nipple and twisted it, she yelped in surprise and arched her back. Cuchulainn's mouth moved over her palm to her wrist where he let her hand rest against the side of his face as he gazed down at her. "Tell me, little queen… what is it that made you so angry?"

She finally shoved away from him and slapped him sharply. He blinked and held his cheek in astonishment. She glared at him, a fire burning inside those gold eyes of hers, making them look like molten metal. "You were flirting, captivated by that noblewoman Gwenivere! That was what made me angry!!" As soon as she had said it, she realized her mistake. She had realized before that he would do such things, might even go away for some periods of time and take a woman to his pallet, but all of that didn't seem to matter when she could still the look of awe on his face when he greeted the woman. As soon as she had spoken, she hit him square on the jaw and ran. Cuchulainn staggered backward and held his jaw, stunned by what she had fair screamed at him. She was jealous, very jealous.

He ran after her in a flash, Bedivere running up the stairs with Lancelot behind him and Gawain bringing up the rear. Cuchulainn caught her arm and pulled her to him quickly. She cried out and hit him on his chest before he crushed her against him to keep her from moving. Bedivere stopped Lancelot and Gawain in their tracks as they stood back and watched, wondering if they should go back or intervene.

Cuchulainn hurt all over his shins and his face. The woman had a nasty right hook and mean boots that likely left large knots on his shins. As she thrashed in his arms, he closed his eyes and hoped this was going to end soon. After a moment, he picked her up against him and ducked into an empty room, hauling her much like one would a screaming child and tossing her on the bed in there. He locked the door and leaned on it, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he eyed her. She sat up and glared at him coldly before her composure came back and once more that mask fell into place.

"I told you that things will occur while you're with me," he said softly.

Arturia gazed at him and he thought he saw a bit of life leave those eyes of hers. He frowned even more and moved away from the door, walking toward her. "I told you and you are throwing a tantrum like a child about it. The least you could do… is at least take me aside and talk to me instead of hitting me." He rubbed his jaw and grunted in pain before he walked over to her.

Arturia gazed at him impassively, attempting to keep what cool she had left to her. "I am… sorry," she said.

He eyed her a moment and crouched down in front of her, looking a bit like his namesake. "And I should take that, why?"

Arturia's eyes flashed back to life and she snapped her foot out at his face. He shot backward to avoid it, but had to keep avoiding being hit until he was backed against the nearest wall. In a moment he felt some form of rope at his neck, or was it material from the bed-curtains? She held the rope or material at his neck, holding him flush up against the wall behind him. He looked at her, breathing hard; puffs of warm breath fanning her face as she leaned close. "Just as you said you will do such things while you are with me… I have warned you that I will force you into chains, keep you and break your will. You will not be free around me," she said softly, avoiding his eyes as she looked at his neck, "You will be caged with me."

Cuchulainn gazed at her for a moment before he attempted to lean closer to her; she held him back with surprising strength, making him want near her all the more. "You can't keep caged what is wild; you can only have the hope that it will remain dormant while it is caged before it breaks free."

Arturia's eyes flicked to his at that, her cheeks flushing faintly. For once since he had tossed her inside that room, the mask was once more lifting and he could see her for who she was. She was afraid of herself, that much was certain. However, with that fear came intrigue as she continued to hold him at bay. For the circus troupes, with their wild exotic animals held in cages, they still held wild animals despite their cages and it was the illusion that the humans had control that made them work as hard as they did to "tame" their beasts. "The illusion makes it tempting, doesn't it?" he said softly.

Arturia flushed more and eyed his lips. "Depends on which illusion you mean… the captor thinking she has a captive?"

"Or the captive thinking he has his captor," said Cuchulainn.

Arturia flicked her eyes up at his and gazed at him, her eyes so very open to him with every emotion running through her heart. Fear, anger, lust, it all ran through them. He leaned forward again and she held him back once more. "I… don't… I don't want to," she said softly, "I'll hurt you as I did before."

He trailed his fake arm up her side, feeling the nerves in his body light up at the feeling of the silk dress she wore, the heat of her body bleeding through the material. "You won't… I know you won't," he said as he brought the hand up to her face and stroked her cheek. She closed her eyes and nuzzled against it before looking to him once more. He smirked faintly at her as he dug his fingers into her hair. "I'll take what you give… as long as you take what I give."

She watched him for a moment before leaning forward and kissing him. He kissed her back with the same pressure as she gave him until he realized she had removed the cloth from his neck. He attempted to move forward when she pushed him back by his chest and lashed the cloth around his wrists. He eyed her with blazing eyes as he snapped his jaws at her, attempting to wrench himself from the bonds she forced on him. It was all part of the game as he could see it. She tried to hold him back, but it was all an illusion that made the play that much more interesting.

"You can't hold me forever, Arturia," he said softly.

A shiver went through Arturia, very visibly so. He grinned as she hesitated and jerked at her hands once more, leaning hard into her. His wrists were tied, but that didn't mean he couldn't do anything at all! His lips met hers and he fair devoured her whole right there. His tongue shot into her mouth and claimed hers as his own, growling as he pushed her further back with his bound hands over her head. He twisted and worked the knots she put in the cloth as he kissed her, her moans egging him on. When he untied the cloth from his wrists, he picked her up and took her to the bed that was in the guest quarters. They would have to have someone set the room up again for their guests afterward, but in the mean time, he was ready to enjoy himself.

He made love to her on that bed; her cries of pleasure echoing in the chamber as he thrust deep into her hot body. Her nails cut into his back as he thrust faster into her. He legs wrapped tightly around his waist, the heat of her body, the hot wetness of her mouth all drove him higher and higher until both cried out and spent themselves. When they recovered, Cuchulainn laid his head on her stomach and kissed her there. She watched him and stroked his hair, oddly comforted by his attentions to her there.

"Poor little fellow probably will get frightened early from ever having sex when he older," said Cuchulainn as he chuckled.

Arturia flushed faintly as he looked up at her. He smiled warmly and crawled up over her, kissing her as he lay down on top of her, his arms wrapping around her. Then, in the softest of voices, he muttered to her ear, "I love you."

* * *

The wedding came and went. Arturia wed Cuchulainn outside in the green grass wearing a gown of black velvet that had been made for her, a dragon necklace, earrings with dragons on them and a ring with a dragon on either side holding a golden colored gem also decorated her. The crown of Briton was upon her brow as was the crown of Ireland upon Cuchulainn's.

When the wedding was done, the pipes-men started playing, musicians playing with them and they retreated to the castle for the ceremony. Lancelot got to ask a dance out of Gwenivere, Gawain once more danced with an Irish woman and Cuchulainn retreated to their quarters in the Ulster castle with Arturia where they once more made love on their bed, this time as man and wife.


	48. Chapter Forty Seven

_**A/N: I just discovered the soundtrack to Beowulf. o.o I'm in love. Also, I've been distracted by my happy Fiesta game once again.**_

_**I find it interesting that in the beginning, I got comments from more than two people, both here and on deviantart, now I've got two people of devart who comment and one who comments on So, what does this say to me? Is it that the story is bad and it scared away people? Doubtful; I don't write shit work. (It sounds conceited, but it's the truth. I wouldn't be putting it up unless I had some confidence it was decent.) More likely is that the one person I always enjoy talking to has been busy and she hasn't been able to read or comment like she used to, also the ones who commented before can't comment because the story is just so very long. Good luck to you in your home and work, Yukohoon! Thank you to those who comment for each chapter. I love receiving feedback and I love ya'll for it.**_

_**Chapter Forty-Seven**_

Emiya had seen the knights leaving Camelot. He had seen Merlin leave with them. He followed behind them all the way to Ulster, taking the same ferry across to the green island while in disguise. It was a very large ship, so they wouldn't notice some lone traveler. The snow was falling heavier than usual in Briton, which meant winter was closing her cold grip on the land. Ireland, however, showed a little of this weather, but not as much as Briton did. The grass was turning brown as it began to hibernate, the weather warmer than in Briton, especially south where Camelot was.

He then followed the knights and Merlin to Ulster, while staying far behind them to make certain they did not detect him, especially Merlin, who had a sense for magic that he had never seen before. Gawain had a similar sense, but it was a visual sense. He stayed away in the crowd as he watched the wedding proceedings, Cuchulainn in his finest blue kilt, a silver broach of a dog's head holding the wool around his shoulders, his hair held back with a black silk bow that looked suspiciously as though it came from Arturia's hair. Arturia herself looked far more beautiful than he had ever seen. Her black gown with black lace in a cut that looked slightly different from the usual gowns she wore that had large, poofy shoulders and an open front that bared white flesh through black lace. The knights were dressed in their finest armor and tabards, watching with smiles, or broad grins, as was the case with Gawain.

The dance and celebration afterward allowed him to infiltrate the castle and watch the newly wedded couple dance and talk to other nobles. Two little girls were present, both resembling Cuchulainn, though one ran over and embraced his leg as he laughed. Arturia, meanwhile, looked somewhat odd as she gazed at the girl, as though she were uncertain as to what she should do. The other girl remained back with a maidservant who picked her up and took the hand of the smaller girl.

The couple retreated to their quarters toward the end of the knight while a pretty young woman danced with Sir Lancelot and Gawain caught the attention of one of the Irish ladies. At that moment, Emiya decided it was probably better to retreat into a hiding place where he could still remain inside the castle without detection. He decided the dungeon would be safer than remaining where people would be traveling most often. He found a cell that was relatively isolated and took up residence there for the time being while he planned his next course of action.

In his mind, he could see Arturia and Cuchulainn making love, the hero of Ulster taking his precious queen as his newly wedded wife in their marriage bed. He could hear the revelry and hear the laughter, hear it all and it made him angry, very angry to know that his queen was with that bastard of a pagan god. With that anger, he slowly fell asleep as he continued to listen to the sounds of the celebration.

* * *

Cuchulainn woke to the sounds of Arturia vomiting. He sighed and sat up slowly, naked as the day he was born as he walked around to find her. They had set up a special spot for her sickness so that she wouldn't have to throw up in the same pot that they defecated in. He found her as she trembled like a leaf against the wall, her skin flushed and her forehead covered in sweat. He touched her forehead and stroked her cheek before picking her up and taking her to the wash basin and washed her face for her, allowing her to wash her mouth out as well. She still trembled and panted as she hugged herself from the cold air.

"It'll continue for a while, Arturia," he said as he watched her carefully. "Emer did this for what felt like forever… had trouble even when food was around as well."

Arturia nodded and attempted to get up. He pulled her onto his lap and nuzzled into her neck, kissing her there. She shoved at him weakly, but he held her against him. "Just take it as it is, Arturia. Don't try to shove me away." After a moment, she relaxed against him and snuggled against his warm body, curling up on his lap.

It had been a week since the guests had left Ulster. Arturia was still feeling ill and she had a terrible sense something was going to happen soon. She wanted to be away from Cuchulainn, but wanted to stay near him. What was happening to her?!

Cuchulainn splayed his fingers over her belly and rubbed her there. "Little one, you should know better than to make your mother unwell, but I suppose it can't be helped."

After a while, Cuchulainn gave Arturia a wash and she gave him a wash before they dressed and walked out to have breakfast. The healers in the castle checked Arturia to see how things were progressing with her before they went about their duties as king and queen. They would have to go to Briton soon to see to matters there as well. A queen or a king simply couldn't leave their countries without some supervision and dictation, after all.

* * *

"Where is that Emiya?" said Bedivere as he looked around. "He's been missing since we came back. No, before that, even! The maids said he was gone around the time we left!" A thought occurred to him and he wished dearly that it was not true, that Emiya hadn't done what he had thought he had done.

"Send word to the mages in Ireland, Merlin. Ask them if they've seen a man with tanned skin, white hair and black clothing wandering around at some point," said Bedivere as he eyed Merlin warily. "For the love of God and all that's Holy, I hope he has not gone over and is going to ruin things for our queen. That would be the end right there."

"Dunno," said Gawain as he picked at his nails with a small knife, "I think it might be useful. After all, marriage isn't about love and good stuff, it's also about accepting and forgiving."

Bedivere frowned faintly and nodded. "I understand, Gawain, but Emiya is obsessed with our queen. He is like a trained dog for her. He only responds to her and views anyone else that gets near her as a threat or unworthy."

"I believe your concerns are good concerns, Sir Bedivere," said Merlin as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I will have a talk with the mages or Fergus. Either one will be able to give me information if they have any." He stood up to walk away and stopped, looking to Bedivere. "One thing you must consider, however…. With Emiya, it isn't a question of his obsession; it is a question of what he will do to his obsession when he is near Cuchulainn." Then, he walked away with his staff in hand.

* * *

Emiya decided it was time he used his new knowledge of the castle to find his way to his queen. She would likely be in the study dealing with documents. He waited until servants were not in the halls and would take his time to get to the chamber in question. When he reached the royal chambers, he found it empty. He saw a broach on a table and eyed it carefully. It was a dog or a wolf head with a knot around it in a very stylized manner.

A thought occurred to Emiya and he smirked at it. He took out a small pot from inside the upper portion of his coat and opened it up. He dipped the sharp pointed pin in it before putting the broach back down where it had been placed and walked away, putting the pot back into his coat. His relative invisibility was certainly an advantage when no one suspected the queen's lapdog was in the castle.

* * *

Arturia gazed out the window as Cuchulainn worked outside. He was overseeing the practice of his soldiers, sometimes joining them, though he looked very reluctant to be doing such things. She knew he didn't like leadership, but she knew he would do it even if he didn't like it. It was simply not in his nature to quit.

She saw his dog head broach and eyed it from a distance. It was what he wore on their wedding day. She stood up and walked over to it, feeling the cold silver under her fingers. She picked it up and eyed it, gazing at the knots going around the stylized head. She turned it around and looked to the pin. She frowned as she eyed the strange discoloration on the end of the pin, touching it carefully.

The door opened and she jumped slightly, startled by the maids coming in to tidy up. She hissed when the pin pierced her thumb and sucked at the blood as she put the broach down. She sat down and picked up her sword and scabbard before she begun to feel very strange. Her heart began to race and she felt light headed.

The maids straightened up suddenly when there was a great sound from the bedchamber. She walked in to find Arturia on the ground, scabbard and sword still in her hand.

* * *

Cuchulainn's head shot up toward the castle when he heard the scream. He ran inside and sprinted up the stairs to find the maids screaming for help, one of them running past him to his and Arturia's chambers with a healer witch. His heart stopped beating in his chest, his body growing numb as a sudden horrifying thought came over him. Someone had harmed Arturia just as they had done to Emer.

He burst into the room and found the healer witch checking Arturia over and then looking around. He felt cold as he watched, the blood draining from his skin as red eyes stared helplessly at the deathly pallor of Arturia's face.

The healer witch saw him and went back to Arturia with one of his broaches in hand, looking at the sharp pin and then looking at what looked like a pin prick on Arturia's hand. "She's been poisoned, my lord," she said to him. She held up the broach to him and nodded. "Looks as though it were meant for you, however."

"Nevermind that; is Arturia going to be all right?" said Cuchulainn, finding it hard to even speak.

"The scabbard and sword are doing very strange things, m'lord. They're hot and keep pulsing with a strange rhythm," said the healer.

"The sword and scabbard keep her alive," he said. "That means they're healing her as we speak."

"Then, the only thing left to worry about is the child," said the healer. Again, Cuchulainn felt as though his heart were dropping into his stomach. "However, if that sword and scabbard are healing her, then they might heal the baby as well."

Cuchulainn nodded and knelt down to pick up Arturia against him, holding the sword and scabbard against her limp body as he kissed her forehead. "Come on, little queen, you come out of this and come back to me," he said softly.

Several hours passed as he held Arturia against him. He sometimes carried her, other times he sat on the bed and held her, always with her sword and scabbard against her breast. After a while, he fell asleep with Arturia leaning against him; dreaming of Arturia dying and he had to bury her himself.

* * *

Arturia dreamed. It was a feverish dream with lots of color and sunlight, warm breezes and happy feelings. Where was she? Was this heaven? Was it just a dream? She looked off not far from her to a great gigantic tree, bigger than anything she had ever seen before, with a circular stone sitting not far from its trunk. There, next to the stone, was a woman she recognized.

Arturia looked down at herself and found herself in the wedding dress she had worn, the sheer cloth covering her shoulders where the thicker cloth did not. She walked to the tree and stopped, gazing at Emer of Ulster as she seemed to be sleeping underneath the tree.

"Hello?" said Arturia softly, gazing at Emer as her usual cold mask fell into place. She felt afraid to speak to the woman, a fear so overwhelming that she was almost frozen to the spot. When Emer did not wake, she cleared her throat and spoke louder. "Hello, Lady Emer," she said.

Emer's eyes opened slowly and looked up at her. Her gentle face smiled faintly at Arturia for a moment as she yawned and stretched. Then, she sat up fully against the tree and looked up at Arturia for real.

Arturia's demeanor seemed to freeze over even more than it had already as she gazed at her. "Why are you so afraid, dear queen? What should you fear from me?" asked Emer with a small gentle smile.

Arturia wanted to retreat, but she wasn't sure how. She simply did not want to stand there in front of Emer and see the woman look so much more graceful than her, so much more beautiful than she could ever be as she graciously smiled at her. "I fear nothing from you," said Arturia in a monotone.

"Oh, but you are afraid, queen Arturia. You are very afraid and it's crippling you as we speak," said Emer softly. "Why is this? You treat Cuchulainn well enough, though for a while I had my doubts as to your intentions."

Arturia gazed at Emer, a strange pain in her heart coming to life. "I have…. no idea what you speak of."

Emer gazed at her and stood slowly. She was still not very tall, though, compared to Arturia, she was tall. Emer put a hand onto Arturia's belly and held her to the spot with nothing more than that one hand. It was as though Arturia couldn't move her body on her own. "Your baby is hurt by the poison in your body. The poison is leaving both yours and its systems and your bodies are healing." Arturia's body trembled and the pain grew worse inside her chest. She buckled and held her arms over her heart with a small whimper as Emer let go of her. "A pain not in your baby, but in your heart weighs you down, dear queen of Briton. What is causing you so much pain?" However, the smile was fading fast from her face, a cold look gracing it where a gentle smile once lit it up.

Arturia trembled on her knees as she held herself tightly, leaning protectively over her belly. She heard Emer's skirts brush against the grass as she walked around her. She felt a great pain stabbing her more and more into her breast as though someone were taking a knife and twisting it inside her. "Tell me, Arturia… what causes you so much pain? Why are you trembling like a scared little girl?" The former queen of Ulster eyed Arturia as she curled up to protect herself and her baby and her heart from the onslaught of emotion running through her. "Could it be that you are feeling ravaged by guilt? Perhaps for ordering my death?"

A sob poured out from Arturia. Emer watched her dispassionately as the little queen sobbed into the grass. After a moment, Emer's face softened and she knelt down and placed her hands on Arturia's trembling back. "Your guilt will kill your baby if you do not let go of it or speak it to someone… if you do not atone for it."

Arturia continued to sob, her body shaking from the force of them. She felt as though she were a demon in the presence of God or an angel from heaven. Emer's warm hands seemed to take the chill from Arturia's body slowly as she pulled her up and wrapped her arms around her. Arturia gripped onto her and cried, like a scared child holding onto her mother. "You feel remorse for what you have done," said Emer softly, thinking. She stroked Arturia's hair gently and held her to her. "You feel deep remorse for what you have done against a man you love dearly. You've hurt him in the greatest fashion ever and all because of jealousy."

Arturia's sobs started to die down and she sniffled as she leaned into Emer's comforting embrace. "I… I…."

"To me, you will not have to say a thing. What is done is done and nothing can bring me back," said Emer softly. "To my husband, you must speak. If you do not, the guilt will consume you and my husband will be left once more… alone.."

Arturia gazed out at the green grass as it moved gently in a warm breeze. Emer's soft voice was like a mother's soothing tone that she would read about in those books she would read occasionally. "I… don't think I have the courage to do it," said Arturia. Tears started to trickle anew down her cheeks as she trembled. "I don't think I could take the look of anger, of hatred, that will fill his eyes toward me. I can stand to be hated by my own people, but I can't stand to be hated by him. Why is this?"

"Because you love him," said Emer softly. She looked away and closed her eyes, tears starting down her own cheeks, but she blinked them away. "Because to you Cuchulainn is your world and that is the only person who truly matters to you now."

"I did not care about anything other than taking care of my people. Why do I care so much for one man?" asked Arturia.

"Because you love him." Once more tears traveled down Emer's gentle cheeks. "Because you love him and now you don't know what to do because of that love. It is the first time you've loved, truly loved, and you are afraid you're going mad from it. It is maddening, isn't it? To love someone so much you're willing to die for them or kill for them?"

Arturia looked up at Emer and blinked at her, surprised that Emer was crying. "Why do you cry?"

"I cry because I know what sort of feeling you feel, because loving Cuchulainn is painful in many many ways that leave an open wound in your chest that constantly reopens whenever he leaves for a time. Because loving Cuchulainn is like loving the wind. He comes around and plays with you and you love him for all his wild ways and then he's gone without a second glance." Emer looked away and wiped her eyes. "Because I've felt upon occasion that I wanted to kill the woman that took his attention away from me."

Arturia's face softened as she wiped her eyes and moved away from Emer to sit on her own. She gazed at Emer for a moment before she bowed her head. "I will tell him of what I have done."

Emer gazed at Arturia softly and nodded. "Do that… do that and I will forgive you, for nothing could be done worse to you than Cuchulainn's hatred should he choose to hate you."

Arturia's chest hurt once more as a feeling of fear shot through her. She closed her eyes and found the light had disappeared and she was inside her chambers. She felt warm and smelled Cuchulainn nearby, if not next to her. She looked around and found she was alone. She stood up slowly, putting her sword and scabbard on the bed as she staggered wobbly toward the door.

She saw Cuchulainn sitting at a table with a bowl of soup and a hunk of bread. He looked up and saw her. He smiled gently toward her and he ran over to her, picking her up against him as he hugged her. He laughed heartily as she hung onto him, savoring the warmth she knew would not last.

He put her down and walked over to his meal, smiling at her. "You're well. I knew that scabbard and sword would save you and the baby, they do it for you all the time."

Arturia gazed at Cuchulainn sadly, tears starting fresh in the corners of her eyes as she gazed at him. She bowed her head and moved back toward the door. Cuchulainn frowned and stood up again. "What is the matter, Arturia? Should I get the healer here?"

Arturia shook her head and lifted her gaze toward Cuchulainn, her face set with a thin mask of coldness over it. Something was wrong and he knew it, but she had to say it before he could be able to help her. Then, she walked over to him and kissed him, the emotion in it sad beyond anything he could comprehend. "I… will speak to you later. I must go to the healer first."

Cuchulainn frowned faintly and nodded. "Aye, you do that, but come back as soon as she's done with you. I want to know what is wrong with you," he said. He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb gently as he gazed at her before he let her leave.

Cuchulainn replayed what had occurred at that moment when she had come into the sitting room where he was dining. He replayed what happened and frowned at it all. It made no sense to him why she was so desperately saddened to the point that she was actually ready to cry.

Just then, the door opened and in walked a tall figure, clad in black with brown skin and white hair falling into his hazel eyes. He eyed Cuchulainn with a great deal of disdain and leaned against the door behind him after he closed it. Cuchulainn shot to his feet and ran over to him, slamming him against the door by his collar. "What are you doing here, you filthy ass!?"

Cuchulainn almost didn't see him move, shooting backward in time to avoid a blade to the chest as he had formed one of those curved swords in his hand. The sword disappeared and Emiya leaned against the door again, eyeing Cuchulainn with disdain once more. "Me? I'm here to look after my queen," he said haughtily. He moved away from the door and eyed the room.

Cuchulainn grunted and glared at him. "Get out unless you've got one hell of an explanation for your appearance."

Emiya eyed Cuchulainn out of the corner of his eye. He stopped moving and looked at the book case in front of him. "I'm told that your wife liked to read."

"Emer enjoyed reading, aye. What of it?" said Cuchulainn, watching him carefully.

"My queen likes to read as well. In fact, she likes many things that your wife liked," said Emiya slowly. "Including you."

Cuchulainn frowned deeply, trying to keep what patience he had left. "And what does this have to do with anything?"

"I wonder, do you know how much my queen despised Emer?" Emiya chuckled and shook his head. "Funny thing, isn't it? Here you are, happy with her as your wife and she's the one that ordered me to kill Emer of Ulster."


	49. Chapter Forty Eight

_**A/N: dun dun DUUUUUN. Actually, it happened this way in the rp to a certain extent, except it was in Hogwarts and it was something like a couple of decades after Arturia and Cu got married that this got popped up. Emiya's being a little prat, so it's happening sooner than it was supposed to.**_

_**Anyway, I still need to stock up on jewelry supplies. w;; However, I got myself a nice jewelry box to organize my crap in.**_

_**Chapter Forty-Eight**_

Cuchulainn stared at Emiya, his mind a complete blank. All he could register was Emiya standing before him with that disgusting look on his face as he told him that Arturia was the one that had ordered Emer's death. He recalled the hands that had killed his wife in the dream he had had. He recalled a lot in the span it took for him to cross the couple of yards he stood away from Emiya and slam him up against the door with a hand at his throat.

Cuchulainn let out a yelp of pain as Emiya's sword made its mark on his stomach. He shot backward and held onto his stomach as Emiya's sword disappeared from his blood covered hand. He cleaned off his hand and opened the door. He stopped before he walked out to turn to Cuchulainn with a very dark look. "You don't deserve her. She is far better than you in any lifetime." Then, he walked out.

Cuchulainn held onto his stomach and groaned, tears coming out of his eyes as he gritted his teeth. He hit the floor on his knees and doubled over onto the floor, angry and hurt and bleeding as he cried tears of anger and frustration. The pain of his wound wasn't even equal to what he felt in his heart, though it did run a close second. "Help!" he called. "I need help!!"

The door opened quickly. He saw Sir Lancelot run over to him and lift him up slowly. "My lord, what has happened to you?"

"Urgh… doesn't matter, just get me to the healers," he said.

Lancelot half carried Cuchulainn to the healers where they fussed over him until they had him bandaged up. Lancelot stayed and waited until they were through with him before kneeling down on a knee and bowing his head. "Who did this to you, my lord? Who tried to kill you? I will have his head on a pike by this evening if you tell me who!"

Cuchulainn frowned faintly, mulling over the choice he had. He could tell Lancelot that it was Emiya, who he despised, but Arturia treasured at least as a piece of property or a pet. Or, and this was a choice he didn't like thinking of, he could just tell him that the man had left already and send them out on a wild goose chase. Of course, with how well Emiya seemed to keep himself invisible, he was certain they wouldn't be able to find him anyway. "This is a private matter, Sir Lancelot, I'll deal with it myself. It was I who was wronged."

Lancelot looked as though he was going to protest, but stopped and nodded, bowing his head again. "I understand, my lord. May I leave and relay this incident to my fellows?"

Cuchulainn was not accustomed to the amount of reverence this man was putting into his words and felt more than a little bizarre talking to this man who wouldn't even look him in the eye. He sighed and nodded to Lancelot before Lancelot stood and walked away from him. He looked around and stood up with the aid of his red spear. He needed to find Arturia.

It didn't take him long, either. He went back to their chambers and found her standing in front of a portrait of Emer that he had placed somewhere where only he could view it when he wanted. He slammed the door shut and glared at her. She turned and looked to him with mild surprise written on her face. She looked away after a moment and then turned fully toward him and walked to him, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her. "What happened to you?" she asked, seeing his bandage. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at it and fear etched itself upon her lovely face.

"Your pet paid me a visit," he said. His tone was cold and caused Arturia's blood to freeze as she gazed at him. Her usual mask covering her in defense as she attempted to remain calm. He frowned at her and walked up to her, his spear in hand. "Emiya told me something interesting."

Arturia raised an eyebrow. "What of?"

Cuchulainn eyed Arturia coolly and leaned on his spear. "He came in to find you, but it seems he got me instead. Quite literally in fact. Plunged a nice dagger into my stomach."

Arturia frowned. Emiya was trained only to kill those she ordered him to, so why did he attack Cuchulainn? "He is here?"

"Aye, he is… and he's attempted to kill the king, what do you think I should do about that?"

Arturia frowned more and rubbed her belly for a moment as she thought. She would have to have a talk with Emiya. Why would he try to kill her husband when it was she he served in the first place?

"Do you know what he told me before he stabbed me?" said Cuchulainn softly.

"What?" asked Arturia.

He moved from his spear and held it up, looking at it. "He told me… that you ordered him to kill Emer." He was a blur of movement. One moment he was standing and inspecting his spear, the next the spear tip dug into her flesh between her breasts. "Did you order such a thing, Arturia?"

Arturia remained silent, gazing at Cuchulainn with the mask crumbling a little upon her face. Cuchulainn grew angry when she didn't speak and drew a line from her flesh with his spear, watching her twitch slightly in her cheek at the pain he was inflicting upon her. "Answer me. Did you order your little servant to kill my beloved Emer?" he said, his voice growing colder with every syllable.

Arturia watched as the hatred he held for her seeped into his gaze and took residence there. She closed her eyes and bowed her head for a moment before she looked up at him, her eyes calm and collected as she had always been. No longer did they show any emotion, instead, all that was left were the eyes of a diplomat, choosing to stay away from the battle rather than participate in it. They were the eyes of a person who had resigned themselves to their fate and had become emotionless from it.

"Yes."

Cuchulainn's hands trembled as his heart thundered in his ears. "Why?" He stared at her, his will to kill faltering slightly as reality crashed around his head. "WHY!?" he shouted.

Arturia didn't even flinch. She simply gazed up at him with those doll like eyes and didn't even seem to blink. "I wanted you," she said. She lifted a hand and put it on her chest over her heart and rubbed at the spot as if she were in pain. "I wanted you more than anything I have ever wanted in my life. When I heard about you from your foster fathers, my body felt light and my heart thumped oddly in my chest. When I saw you for the first time at that celebration, my chest felt even odder."

Cuchulainn's hands slackened a little and the blade drew further down her torso, a line of red oozing down over her white stomach. She didn't flinch. She simply gazed at him as his heart seemed to stop entirely. "When I saw you looking so happy with Emer… a pain so great entered into my chest and made me believe that I would die from it," she said softly, "I tried to ignore it, I tried to make it go away, but it never went away. Eventually, I came to a decision that the only way I could alleviate it would be to have you and so I did." She shook her head and rubbed more at the spot. "But it only made the pain worse. Whenever you spoke of Emer, the pain was overwhelming. When you seemed to accept me, I told Emiya to kill Emer so that I might have you and rid myself of this pain."

"You were… jealous?" he said softly. He grunted and pulled the spear away from her, turning his back to her. "You were jealous and so you killed my beloved wife simply to eliminate the problem you had. How typical of the Dark Queen of Briton."

Arturia gazed at Cuchulainn and continued to rub at her heart. Cuchulainn mulled over what had been said before he made his spear disappear. "Don't come back to this bed tonight," he said. Then, he walked out.

Arturia felt an emptiness so vast that it scared her. It was as though he had pulled every part of her internal organs out and left her as little more than a shell. She looked around for a moment, hoping for something she could touch to ground herself and found nothing more than what she was surrounded with already. After a moment of shaken wobbling, she walked out the door and walked silently down the stairs to look for Emiya. She needed to know why it was that he had done such a thing when she had planned to do it herself; not that it probably would've helped any.

* * *

Fergus looked up in time to see Cuchulainn walking past looking livid. He walked right up to a tree and whipped his spear out, the spear tip glowing dangerously. In a second he gave a mighty yell of frustration and stabbed the spear into the tree, causing a small explosion to occur where the blade met the tree.

"Lad! What is wrong with you?" Fergus ran over to Cuchulainn and stopped a few feet from him.

Cuchulainn pulled his spear from the tree and hit it before turning and slumping against the tree, defeated. "I'm a fool, Fergus. I'm the greatest fool in all of history."

"What for? Lad, what's going on?" Fergus crouched down and frowned at Cuchulainn.

Cuchulainn looked to Fergus, his eyes bright with anger and hurt, unshed tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "That bitch… she had Emer killed and all because she was jealous."

Fergus frowned deeply and sat down in the grass in front of Cuchulainn. "Then, why didn't you kill her?"

Cuchulainn shook his head and held it with his hands as he leaned forward. "Because I'm a fool."

"Stop it," said Fergus, "Now, tell me what is going on."

"Her little lackey came to pay a visit. He attempted to gut me and then told me that Arturia had him kill Emer and then when I confronted her, she told me it was true," said Cuchulainn.

Fergus frowned even more and stood up. Cuchulainn seemed to curl up like a child and started to cry. Fergus then walked away and went to find Arturia. If this was true, and it was found out by the guards and people, a war would break out that would likely result in Arturia being dead and the Britons being the ones to do it to save their own skins.

* * *

Arturia found him. He was sitting in the isolation cell of the dungeon, his stolen meal before him as he ate sparingly and sat against the wall. She walked into it and closed the door behind her, frowning deeply at him. "Emiya, why did you tell him?"

"Because he was being so bossy," said Emiya softly without looking at her. "My queen deserves better."

Arturia slapped him. He didn't even budge or flinch from the slap. He simply closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek. Arturia's heart seemed to come back and it was pounding hard in her chest as she glared at him. "Why did you do that? You knew I was going to one day find a way to marry him and now I have, what is it in you that forces you to tell him the one thing that will make him hate me forever?!"

Emiya snapped his hazel eyes over to her and stood up, towering over her, gazing at her coldly. "Because I hate him, that's why."

Arturia glared at him angrily, clenching her fists at her sides. "You may hate him all you wish, but you serve ME and thus you have betrayed ME." She grabbed his collar and yanked him down to her level before grabbing his chin to force him to look at her. "And now that you have betrayed me, I will have to punish you severely, Emiya Shirou."

Emiya gazed at her and closed his eyes as though he were enjoying the feel of her hand holding him so harshly. "If my queen does it, then I will take it."

Arturia punched him on the jaw and shoved him away, kicking him on the stomach. Her gaze grew cold, the frozen shell falling into place over her as she gazed at Emiya with contempt. "Then, you will receive a great deal at my hands, Emiya."

* * *

Fergus heard noises from the dungeon and walked down to it. There were no prisoners down there for the moment so there shouldn't have been any noises at all. He found the isolation cell and peered in through the window. Arturia had Emiya's head under her boot as she held him in place.

He opened the door and walked in. "I think that's enough, little queen," said Fergus.

Arturia took her boot off Emiya's head and moved away from him, looking to Fergus. Her eyes were a little red, her gaze challenging him to just say something to set her off. That would certainly be something of an epic battle, him fighting her, that is; even more than her fighting Cuchulainn, which was a pretty nasty battle to start with.

Emiya looked the worse for wear. He had bruises and cuts all over him. He might even die should Fergus have not said anything or done anything. "Arturia…"

"Don't speak, Fergus Mac Roich," she said, gazing at him with a very hot glare. "I don't need to be preached to nor do I wish it."

Fergus grunted and crossed his arms in front of his chest, eyeing her carefully. "So it's true then, aye? You had that one there kill Emer?"

Arturia seemed to have a shell as thick as armor all over her. It was invisible to the eye, but it seemed to be present no less, a shell to protect what was now damaged underneath. She looked away and eyed her servant coldly. "Yes, I did."

It was then that Fergus noticed the red line of blood on her torso. Cuchulainn must have done that while taking the truth from her. He frowned and glared at her. "Why did yo… no, I know why you did it. I know why because I've seen what jealousy can do to a woman as well to a man."

Arturia continued to glare at Emiya with a murderous look, not even sparing a glance toward Fergus. Emiya breathed oddly and coughed blood. She must have punctured a lung and he would likely drown on his own blood should she not give him any sort of treatment.

She heard a faint clinking sound that brought her out of what murderous cloud she had formed around herself. She closed her eyes and felt the rosary fall out of her sleeve and into her hand. She lifted her hand and looked at it for a moment and found her face growing wet as tears slowly streaked down her cheeks.

Fergus saw her tears and his face softened a little, going from angry to concern. Whatever else the lady had done, she had shown herself to genuinely care for Cuchulainn enough to risk a great deal to be with him and then shown great reluctance to be with him. Now, he understood that reluctance. A woman only after a political marriage would have taken the opportunity presented toward her to marry the one she had so carefully planned to do. That she showed reluctance showed she perhaps felt remorse for her actions and guilt ridden.

Emiya coughed again and groaned, breaking the moment of silence. Arturia gazed down at him with a little less anger and more disappointment. Fergus looked to the door and felt a real conflict crop up inside him. On the one hand, he could tell the guards to lock Emiya and Arturia inside the cell and thus they would be killed in the morning for treason and murder. On the other hand, he could send Arturia out of the castle for things to cool down and see how Cuchulainn reacted and to see what he might do.

However, before he could speak, Arturia lifted Emiya up on her side and started attempting to haul him out the door. "I need to leave," she said.

Fergus stood for a moment, watching as such a tiny woman seemed to have the strength of men much larger than her. He walked over and attempted to lay hands on Emiya, however, she shoved him off. "Leave him be. He is mine. I will deal with him as I see fit, that includes transporting him and healing him. Get me two horses and food and some healing potion so I might treat his cuts. I'm leaving for Camelot. Tell my knights to be ready to leave in an hour."

Fergus eyed Arturia and nodded. "Aye, I'll do that for you, little queen," he said softly, "Just be careful."

Arturia didn't turn for a moment, staring at the hallway outside the door from the doorway. She turned finally and looked over at him with a look of appreciation and bowed her head to him. "Thank you, lord Fergus."

With that, Arturia took Emiya away as Fergus stood in that doorway watching her. After she disappeared around the corner, he took his time walking up the steps. He found Bedivere, the "leader" of the knights and he in turn set things in motion. Soon, the party from Camelot left for their home.

* * *

Cuchulainn stood at the window of his bedchamber. He watched as Arturia left with her knights and Emiya and rode off toward the border of Ulster. He watched and felt an ache inside his chest far greater than when Emer died and greater still when Ferdia died.

An ache in his chest? He had heard the same thing from Arturia's lips when she professed to have had an ache so strong in her heart that she could not bear its pain anymore. Now, he knew the truth of those words for himself. His heart hurt greater than anything he had ever felt before and that was saying something! Had he not truly loved Emer? No, he loved her more than the sun, more than the air. He could hardly live without her and yet…

And yet, there was Arturia…

And yet…


	50. Chapter Forty Nine

_**A/N: and here we go with another chapter. I just found a neat game connected to Dragonfable and Adventurequest. Mechaquest is like… the prequel to Dragonfable. o.o it's awesome.**_

_**Downloading the brotherhood of the wolf soundtrack at the moment. **_

_**Chapter Forty-Nine**_

Arturia and her knights arrived in Camelot soon after they left. The knights who had remained had welcomed them home and inquired as to their new king. "Oh don't worry, he's dealing with some stress of his own in Ireland," said Gawain, grinning his usual broad grin that seemed almost infectious. However, it didn't infect Arturia, who remained very solemn through the entire greeting between her knights.

She left them there and headed up to her chambers with Emiya in tow, bandaged and a little banged up looking, but otherwise healthy. She had administered the healing potions she had been allowed and used her scabbard to deal with the more serious internal problems. She had him by a leash of sorts connected to the collar of his coat which had a ring on it for such an occasion that she had specified be put on there when she had the coat made for him. She had felt she might have to one day have to use a leash on him, but had dismissed it as an unnecessary worry. Now, she knew that she would have to keep him close by should he do something else as equally foolish and damaging as what he had done toward his queen.

When they reached her quarters, she took the leash off and headed to her chambers where she closed and locked the door on him. Emiya sat down carefully on his cot, looking at his hands which were healing from the beating he had received at her hands. They were fixed, most of the scrapes and cuts healed. He would be able to use them for archery and swordplay soon enough should she actually request something of him again. He had a feeling she might deny him that privilege unless it was a dire need from now on. He had betrayed her trust and all because he had become very jealous of Cuchulainn enjoying of her what he could not and would never have. Perhaps it was all for the best.

Perhaps the only way he would ever be able to become closer to her would be the next time she used her scabbard to heal him. The pain in his heart was great from the pain he had caused her. He wasn't really certain how he should help, for it was his fault that the one she loved now didn't love her anymore and would live with a very broken heart for a long time. A tear rolled over his tanned cheek and dropped onto his healing hand. He looked at it with a little wonder and more than a little irony. He was a killer, a killer because his queen had made him as such. He was hardly afraid of dying, but afraid of losing the trust and love of his queen. Now, he knew he had lost both of those and he was a very sorry individual indeed.

He looked to the door and knew what lay beyond it. Beyond it was a woman nursing a heart that had been ripped apart and handed back to her, mostly by her own devices, but partly because of his own. He sighed and lay back on his pallet and closed his eyes to rest, his muscles ached from the long journey home.

* * *

Arturia looked out her window to the snow covered ground. The people milled about, some stopping to look up at the great dark castle before moving on. Things had not changed since she had gone. It was fine, for things had been fair before she had left and the knights took charge as they were meant to do in her absence. It was all fine outside.

However, inside was another story. Inside the castle, the people wanted to know where their new king was. Inside her chambers lay a man she nearly killed for spilling the secret she had planned on spilling herself. Inside her, she felt cold and empty. It had been so long since she had felt such awful emptiness; as if her heart had been ripped out and torn apart in front of her. Why must humans feel such awful feelings?

She walked over to her bed and lay down upon it. It smelled of Emiya. He must have used her bed while she was gone. A small part of Arturia felt somewhat relieved to know Emiya needed her near so badly that he used her bed, something most people would have cringed at.

She rubbed her chest over her heart and nuzzled into the pillow. She saw the chains near her bed and felt her heart rip anew in her breast. She succumbed to tears as she finally let down her walls and became a woman who now suffered a very broken heart; her long moans of despair echoing in her chamber. Emiya leaned his forehead against the rock of the wall separating him from his queen and closed his eyes shut as he comforted her inside his mind, mumbling small consoling words to the rock as if it were her.

* * *

Cuchulainn ruled as king to the best of his ability. He was accustomed to having so much authority. He was used to being given a duty and following it as well as doing tasks that no one else had the "balls" to do. King, however, was something that they failed to teach him to be when he was growing up and something that the druid Cathbad had failed to tell him would occur should he decide to be a hero on the day he set forth to be one. He was to live a life of a hero and die early. However, all that seemed to change when Arturia came into it with her gold eyes and pale hair and that pale skin that almost glowed in the dark. She undid what he had thought would happen to him and now he was a king.

He sighed as he leaned against the wall of the castle, rain pouring down on the land. His joints hurt when it rained. He gazed through the window as maidservants ran inside under cloaks to keep from getting wet and squealing at the cold rain falling on them. He listened to the male servants make jokes toward the ladies and flirt with them as they tried to get over to the fireplace and warm up. Winter was taking hold and the rain would soon turn to snow. When it did, it would be the first winter he would not have Emer as his wife and his children without a mother.

Caley peered out from a corner and watched him, her brown hair pulled back in a braid. He spied her from the corner of his eye and looked away, beckoning her with a finger. She eyed him a moment before running over and hugging his leg. He looked down at her as she whimpered into his kilt. He lifted her up into his arms and kissed her forehead, stroking her cheek with a sad smile. "You miss your mam, don't you," he said softly. She nodded and he hugged her to him to hide the tears forming in his eyes. The small admission had pulled hard at his aching heart.

Elish walked up with a cinnamon stick in her mouth. She tugged on his kilt to be picked up and he did so, albeit, with some effort due to one child being held precariously with one arm. When he did, he held them both to him and both hugged him around his neck, Elish settling her head on his chest and Caley with her head against his neck.

"I miss mam," whimpered Caley finally.

Elish remained silent for a moment before snuggling against Cuchulainn's chest and closing her eyes. "Mam is always around, so I don't miss her. I'm happy she's here." Cuchulainn eyed the younger of the two children and frowned faintly. Was his child perhaps some sort of medium? "I miss the little blonde lady. She looked happy with daddy."

Cuchulainn blushed faintly at this. Caley looked a little sore, but didn't press the issue. She had already been scolded for throwing a tantrum over the marriage and wasn't about to be scolded again for it! He kissed Caley's forehead and rubbed Elish's back slightly, though it was difficult. "The little blonde lass… felt uncomfortable here," he said softly. "She's gone back to her home."

Elish looked up with those red eyes of hers and pouted faintly. "Why?"

"Because she did things that made daddy sad and da…" He wasn't certain how he could go on. He had told her to not come back and she had done exactly that. He was furious with her for taking away his wife and yet…

His chest ached once more with that same lingering pain he could never rid himself of. As he set both children on the floor and moved back toward the window, he absently rubbed at the spot where his heart should lay. Elish seemed the most interested in him, Caley, however, simply grabbed Elish's hand and ran off with her in tow.

Was this the pain that Arturia had told him about? Was this agonizing, unending pain and emptiness what she felt every time she saw him and knew he was married to Emer and loved her? It was maddening to have his chest ache so much for a woman he should hate so very much. It was madness that had to be taking hold of him to feel so much for such a cold hearted woman.

And yet…

"You can't keep this up for long, lad," said Fergus as he came up behind Cuchulainn. "You miss her, I can see it and so can Elish."

"Shut up," said Cuchulainn, regaining himself. He straightened up and moved away from the window. "The only thing I miss is Emer. It certainly isn't that callous woman over in Briton."

Fergus watched him leave and closed his eyes. He had once been angry with his step son for banned him from ever entering Ulster, for taking the throne because of his wife, Connochbar's mother. Now his step son was dead and his ex-wife dead as far as he knew. His wife probably wouldn't allow him anywhere near her since going to Maeve all along was so much more satisfying than going to her. Maeve and Cuchulainn hated each other so he would never be able to meet her there and enjoy what he once enjoyed. Now, he was back inside the castle of Ulster and serving as his foster son's steward, on account that he had once been king and was most trusted by Cuchulainn.

He watched as Cuchulainn made his way up the stairs toward the chambers he would have shared with Emer if she were alive and the chambers he would have shared with Arturia if she had stayed. He knew she couldn't have stayed with such a fresh wound being opened and so had she. The woman was very smart; almost ten steps ahead of everyone else except what concerned her heart. When it came to her heart, she was lost in a labyrinth of details and could not see past the fog that continuously settled over the maze.

Fergus hoped once more that the lovers would find some happy medium between them, that they would finally find someplace where they could both be happy. With that, he watched as a petite young maidservant walked over to the fireplace, her thick dark hair pulled back and her petite form belying a rather regal appearance. As he recalled her family had been Spanish before she came over to their little island. He chuckled and made his way over to her as he let himself enjoy the company of a pretty girl once more.

* * *

Arturia gazed at the scabbard in her hands and at the naked chest of Emiya. She was once again going to heal Emiya's wounds after letting him heal on his own for a while now. The internal injuries were extensive, that she had known since she had inflicted them upon him. However, she couldn't completely heal him the first time and couldn't get a moment alone with him to use her scabbard on him so her knights wouldn't see the effect it had upon both of them.

As she gazed at Emiya's serene face, she found herself almost memorizing the angles of it. Much like Cuchulainn, his face was thin and rather sharp-ish. His cheekbones were high and chiseled his jaw more square than Cuchulainns, but just as strong as his, his nose straight and graceful. His eyes were, however, odd. On the one hand they looked Asian, on the other; they were bigger and had more of a crease than most Asians she had ever seen.

The scabbard and sword pulsed and heated under her hand, pulsing with the beat of her heart as it sped up. Emiya opened his hazel eyes and gazed up at her through his brown lashes. "You hurt in your heart," he said softly.

She gazed at him and watched as he placed a hand over her pounding heart. She looked away from him and put a hand on his wrist to move his hand away. "You love him," he said. She stopped and felt a prickling in her eyes. She closed them and gently shoved at his hand, but he didn't move it. He continued to gaze at her for a moment before closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the pillow.

"Yes," she said softly.

"Then, you should go back to him," he said.

Arturia looked to him, stony mask firmly in place. "I can't and you know I can't," she said in a harsh tone.

She watched as he opened his eyes and looked to her with those pretty, yet odd, eyes of his. The hand she tried to move from her breast began to stroke the spot where her heart should be as though petting it like one would a hurt child on their head. He brushed her nipple and she slapped his hand away from her, though he showed surprising resilience against her. He was hard muscle compared to her and far bigger than her, even compared to Cuchulainn. He wasn't broad like Fergus, but he was tall. "If you hurt so, Arturia," he said softly, her eyes widening as he used her name, "then… I will make it not hurt so much as well as I can."

She moved away from him, the scabbard falling onto the floor. "Why do you do this to me, Emiya? Why?!"

"Shirou."

She blinked at him as though he had grown another head. He looked very severe at the moment, all power and shadow, even though he simply stood up from the bed and looked away with his head down. "My name is Shirou, Arturia. My people say their names backwards. I didn't have the heart to correct you before because it is more informal for your first name to be used than your last… and because you had insisted upon calling me by it." She watched as his white haired head moved and his eyes gazed at her with an intensity she had only seen come from Cuchulainn. "Call me Shirou."

She gazed at him for a long time, not certain what she should say. She felt unequipped to deal with the way things were going, as if she were falling without something to catch her. "Why… why do you do this?" she asked finally.

"Because," he said softly, gazing at her through his lashes as he spoke slowly, "I have… **always**… loved you."

Arturia stared at Emiya, uncertain as to what she should do. Emiya had confessed something to her that she had not calculated, had not thought about occurring. Emiya was like a pet to her, doing things that she had needed done at the time to achieve a perfect goal. And he did these tasks flawlessly with minor problems entering into it. Now, she had a new problem and she was not sure what she should do.

"I have said nothing before now because I knew I would never be able to be with you as a lover," he said as he finally closed his eyes. "I performed your tasks as you gave them to me because it was you who gave them to me. I have violated your trust and now have lost even that chance with you as my queen. I speak, therefore, my feelings because I have nothing left to me. Do what you wish with them, it matters not to me anymore. I have long known I could never have you for my own."

She looked away and clasped her hands tightly in front of her, feeling the ring Cuchulainn had given her to signify her marriage to him. She took it off and gazed at it with a new feeling of emptiness sucking the life from her. No longer would it hold meaning for she was no longer married to Cuchulainn. She couldn't be, for he no longer wanted her. She, however, could not part with the ring, for it was him who had given it to her. Tears rolled over her cheeks slowly as she gazed at the stone before placing it in a jewelry box with her other fine things.

"What do you wish of me?" she said softly.

"Nothing… I only wish to remain close to my queen," said Emiya as he watched her.

"Why do you then confess to me?" she said.

Emiya gazed at her, his heart hurting as he watched her. The pain in her was so great that he could hardly take watching her hurt so much. "Because I will alleviate that pain which takes over your heart," he said softly.

She looked over at him slowly and found him still where he had been standing before, but felt as though he had moved closer to her. "How could you? How can you make it go away when the source of it is the only thing that can make it disappear?" Tears flowed over her cheeks now, her gold eyes glistening from her tears.

Emiya gazed at her and smiled faintly. "I don't know," he said softly, "But I am willing to do anything to make my queen happy."

"I'm married," she said softly.

"Not now, you aren't," he said, still smiling that soft smile that reminded her of the boy she had saved.

"I… know that," she said and turned away again. She clenched her eyes shut and attempted to calm herself, but was unsuccessful. Emiya watched as Arturia was tormented from inside by the conflicting feelings inside her. She opened her eyes again and looked down at the jewelry box once more, at her hands which were now naked without the wedding ring. She closed them again and felt the tears drop onto her hands. "Hold me," she said softly, "Hold me and make me feel."

For a moment, Arturia felt nothing. She turned to see Emiya still staring at her with a look of mild disbelief. She gazed at him for a long moment before reaching a hand to him. "Please," he said, almost desperately, "Please, Shirou…"

Emiya stared for a moment longer before he grabbed her hand and pulled himself to her, holding her against him. His eyes closed in joy as he felt her warm body against his for the first time. She was small, so very small compared to him and yet she was the one woman he could not live without.

Arturia's tears continued to roll over her cheeks as she gazed at the window, feeling Emiya's hard body against hers and holding her steady. She finally gave in and nuzzled against the hard tanned chest of him, raking her fingers over his strong back. He smelled of leather and musk. She felt him pick her up and lay her down on her bed and looked up to find him gazing down at her with those odd hazel eyes of his. He smiled faintly at her, a warm feeling in his eyes as he leaned down closer to her. She felt his lips upon hers and at first wasn't certain she should continue, but the warm scent of him and the warm, gentle coaxing of his mouth pulled her forth from the depths of the black pit she had put herself into. His hands, which had killed many for her sake, now treated her as if she were the most fragile thing he had ever encountered. Cuchulainn did similar to her when she felt bad.

She felt his warm tongue move against hers and felt her heart pound anew. She felt his fingers tease her nipples and the womanly folds between her legs. She felt his tongue over her flesh tracing the scar Cuchulainn had created between her breasts. Soon, she would grow heavy and her belly would be too large for such enjoyment. So, for now, she simply felt Shirou Emiya touch her and kiss her before he finally pushed himself into her waiting body and make love to her. Whatever killer she had brought about inside him through her rigorous teachings was now no longer present in the man who made love to her. Instead, a boy of sixteen with a happy smile and the courage of a lion was within her.

He thrust into her until he could no longer control himself and his actions. There, his passions burst out from his control and he moved harder and faster within her, feeling her nails rake his skin and her cries of pleasure spur him on. His mouth pleasured her over her whole body as he found new and interesting spots to use it upon. His cock continued to pulse inside her until she let out a wonderful scream of pleasure that sent shivers through his much larger frame and his seed bursting inside her.

When they collapsed together, Emiya simply pulled her against him and cradled her against him as though he would protect her even in sleep. She didn't protest; she snuggled against his heat and let herself feel this simple feeling inside her. Her heart hurt more than ever and yet… she felt a wonderful joy inside her at the feeling of Emiya being the one to hold her.

With that, they both fell asleep, nuzzling against each other for warmth in the cold night that surrounded them.

* * *

Cuchulainn gazed at the ring on table. It was his wedding ring that Arturia had given him. In his mind's eye, he could see her in that black gown, smiling at him faintly as though she were unaccustomed to it. He could feel her body against his and hear her moans as he pleasured her. He could also hear the noises Emer used to make when he made love to her. It caused the pain to return inside his heart.

He soon realized that he no longer had either woman, the stark reality of the situation before him causing a great emptiness far greater than the one he had previously crop up inside him. It was so much that his eyes prickled and his constitution buckled. He was without the two women he had truly cared the most for and one by the other's hand and the other by his own making.

He curled on the bed he would have shared with either one and let the tears run into the sleeve of his shirt. The simple truth of his problem lay before him and it startled him with its absolute nature. He could live without Arturia and continue to stay angry or he could go after her and bring her back to him. As the tears flowed slowly over his cheeks and regained some of himself back, he closed his eyes and rubbed the place where Arturia would have laid next to him, as though by doing this he could somehow feel her there next to him.

Then, he fell asleep.


	51. Chapter Fifty

_**A/N: I have become completely engrossed by the music from Beowulf, the new one that is. Especially the last song, it's so beautiful and reminds me a little of Dark!Lancer/Cuchulainn that I'll write about when I get to it…. Or maybe now… dunno which I'm doing this on yet. **_

_**I've just realized that I'm turning into Jack Sparrow. I've got more crap to wear in my hair and to decorate myself with than clothes. o.o**_

_**Yeah, I'll make this a Dark Queen one. Need to finish this before I get to the next one, which is called Alternate Universe: Hound of the Dark Earth.**_

_**Chapter Fifty**_

Fergus looked up from the little Spanish maid that he was currently kissing in a small corner where they wouldn't be seen too readily. Her mouth was sweet and her small frame even sweeter; though he worried he might crush her if he actually bedded her. Though, judging by the rather passionate and warrior like attitude of hers, he might not get that far just yet. He watched as Cuchulainn walked out from the castle and stood in front of Emer's grave in front of the tree it lay beneath.

"Fergus?" she said softly, confused for a moment as her sense slowly came to her. Her dark hair had been loosed from her usual braid and she looked like a woman from the legends, dark and sensuous and yet very innocent with her big eyes.

Fergus looked to her and smiled a little lopsided grin toward her. "Appologies, dear little Alexandra. I have a wee cub I must attend to." He leaned down and kissed her and he felt her respond to his kiss with some uncertainty. He smiled faintly and kissed her hand as he bowed down to her with a bit of a swish. "You should not be so worried, little one."

She blushed faintly and looked away. "Ah… I just…," she said softly, "I simply know not what I should do around you. You are much older than me and so much bigger than me."

Something about her drew out the boy in him. It had been a while since he had actually felt so truly energetic and enthusiastic about a woman aside from Maeve, who was the only one he had ever found to be able to take him to bed and make him enjoy himself immensely. He chuckled and stroked her cheek a moment. "If you wish it, I will not pursue you further, little one. Just say so and I will cease this at once."

Alexandra gazed at him for a moment and then kissed his hand as she bowed her head to him. "I'm a maid servant. You were a king once, now a legend to everyone, same as his Royal Highness Cuchulainn. To show me such concern makes me feel very uncomfortable, sire."

"Aaach… don't pay attention to that. I'm just an old rogue around here who enjoys the company of a fine woman with much to interest me with. A woman with a body is fine, but a woman with a body and intelligence is sweeter."

Alexandra blinked at Fergus, blushing faintly. "Ah…"

Fergus waved her off and smiled faintly at her. "Now, I must be off to attend to what seems to be a problem."

Alexandra curtsied and muttered "Yes, m'lord" before walking past him and then stopping to kiss his cheek hurriedly and run off as fast as her legs could carry her. Fergus blinked at her as she disappeared around the corner for a moment before laughing and shaking his head, walking toward the tree that Cuchulainn was now sitting underneath.

"Lad! Lad!!" he called. Cuchulainn didn't look up, his eyes were closed and he looked as though he were sleeping. "Lad! Wake up!" Again, he couldn't raise the old hound from what now seemed like an unnatural rest. Perhaps he was speaking with Emer in the between world. He sat down and watched Cuchulainn, keeping watch to make certain that Cuchulainn would be all right.

* * *

Green grass filled Cuchulainn's senses. He no longer smelled the crisp clean smell of snow, but the smell of life. He smelled spring in the air and looked up to see the leaves of a great tree overhead. He found his head to be in the lap of someone very beautiful and smiling sweetly at him; her unbound purple hair as beautiful as the day he first saw her.

"Emer," he said with a small sigh. He reached up and stroked her cheek, loving the softness of her skin.

She smiled faintly and nuzzled into his hand, kissing his palm as she stroked his hair. "You are asleep, Cuchulainn."

"I know," he said, "But I had to see you."

She leaned down and kissed his lips gently before sitting up. "What is it you wish to learn from me?"

"I'm… conflicted," said Cuchulainn, uncertain how to approach his feelings. He rubbed his face and closed his eyes. "I'm vexed and I don't know why I should be and yet…"

"And yet you can't help yourself?" she said, smiling faintly. "Arturia is a lot of trouble, isn't she?" She spoke as though she were speaking of a fond memory of a person she was great friends with.

Cuchulainn was slightly unnerved by this sweetness toward Arturia. He sat up and looked to her, the long hair on the back of his head free from its usual ponytail, his shorter hair on top looking a bit messy. "You realize she is the one that had you killed, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," she said, "However, I've begun to realize that she is a lot like me…No, she is more like a scared child, hurting inside and afraid to show anything lest she be hurt worse."

Cuchulainn blinked at his wife and frowned faintly as he sat up totally and hugged a knee. "She's going to have my child," he said.

"Aye, I don't doubt it," she said with a small smile. "I don't doubt he will be trouble for you as well. Elish and Caley were a fair bit of trouble for me."

Cuchulainn once more felt even more unnerved. "I also told her to not come back to our chambers and she went back to her home in Camelot. I don't doubt that she might kill the child."

"No… she wouldn't kill a child, especially if it is one born of love."

Cuchulainn frowned faintly and looked away. "Did I truly not love you? I had thought I did, but I can't help the feeling I have for Arturia."

Emer gazed at Cuchulainn with a mixed look of warmth and a little bit of sadness. She closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. "You love me deeply; that much is obvious, for your trepidation comes from this. You also love Arturia, which is also true. I can feel it in your heart when you lay next to me under this tree. You're afraid of betraying me and yet you act on impulse when she comes near."

Cuchulainn looked to Emer as she opened her eyes and smiled as tears slowly rolled over her cheeks. "A wife can't ask for more love from such a husband, could not ask for more loyalty from a husband such as you than what you've always shown. When you were with me, I was the prize in your eyes, the greatest woman that ever lived to you. When you were away, you found lovers who took your interest and yet you would eventually come back to me. I can't ask for more from you, Cuchulainn. You were always so loving toward me. None could compare to you and so none will ever compare to you. I am dead and watch over you even when you think you're alone. I will always be here for you when you have a problem, just as I was when I was alive." Her smile faded slightly and she bowed her head and looked to her lap where she clasped her hands tightly. "And so I must ask you to stop coming to me except occasionally. I have already given you enough information to use on your own, however, you must figure out on your own if you truly wish Arturia to be by your side as you had claimed on your wedding day."

It was as though someone had suddenly kicked him out of the green grassy land and the sight of Emer faded very suddenly. He sat up with a start, gasping for breath as his heart pounded in his chest. He looked around wildly and found Fergus near him, watching him intently. "Fergus?"

Fergus smiled faintly. "I see you've come back to us, then? Have a bad dream?"

Cuchulainn wasn't certain how he should answer. He sat up fully and shook his head of the dreams he had of the world between life and death and Emer. "No.. it was a wonderful dream, however I was kicked from it without notice."

"I didn't touch you," said Fergus. Cuchulainn raised his hand and shook his head.

"No, it wasn't you, Fergus. It was Emer. She said she doesn't want me to come see her any time soon."

"Makes sense," said Fergus thoughtfully, "Going to such a place means you must be near death, I should think. She wants you to live and so she made you leave."

"No… I think it…" Cuchulainn had an epiphany. "It's because she wants me to do this on my own."

Fergus smirked. "She was always the smartest woman around, wasn't she?"

"One of them anyway," said Cuchulainn. He stood up and started for the castle, groaning at his very cold rear and legs.

"Where are you going?" asked Fergus.

"I'm going to Camelot!" called Cuchulainn with a laugh.

Fergus laughed and slapped his leg. "You do that, lad! You do that!! Don't worry; I'll keep Ireland safe for you!"

"I don't doubt it, friend!!" called Cuchulainn before he ran into the castle. With that, he gathered up the supplies he would need and took a horse from the stable, riding toward the coast where he would catch a ferry and go into Briton.

* * *

Emiya had now become a lover for Arturia, though she still felt very uneasy. She had begun to grow bigger in her tummy and Emiya felt uncertain about making love to her while the baby inside her grew so fast. She wasn't very certain herself, however it was becoming hard to hide the small buldge forming.

Merlin put his ear to her tummy and listened carefully. He smiled faintly and stood up. "Sounds like you have some indigestion and a case of pregnancy," he said.

Arturia gave him a stony look. "I don't appreciate your humor right now."

Merlin smiled faintly and sat down behind his desk. "Your baby sounds healthy to me for now. By no means am I a doctor, however."

Arturia nodded and looked away, looking nervous. "It's his, I know," said Merlin faintly. "You're nervous about what your people will say about the pseudo bastardness of your child, aren't you."

Arturia nodded and looked to her hands. "I… I don't want to worry, but I can't help worrying. I try to tell myself it matters not to me what they will say, but I can't stop feeling terrible about it. How did you know that I'm no longer married to Cuchulainn?" The switch happened so fast that Merlin couldn't help but laugh. "It's not funny!"

Merlin chuckled and waved at her. "I'm not laughing at you, rather at how you switch so suddenly."

Arturia rubbed her hands together and looked away. "What should I do?"

"First off, you're not unmarried. You're married to that man until you or he makes it officially off. Second, just eat what the nurses tell you and do what you can until the baby arrives," said Merlin, smiling faintly at her.

She didn't look very convinced, but seemed ready to drop the matter. She stood up slowly and walked to the door, stopping to rub her growing belly. Merlin watched her and not for the first time felt as though he were watching his own daughter worry over her first child. She left him there as he wondered what his children would have looked like if his wife had not died. Now that she was gone, he couldn't imagine being in love with another woman ever again. Indeed, not another woman ever caught his eye again that could compare to his Nimue.

Arturia walked away and stopped when she saw Lancelot standing near a window with his black hair somewhat in his eyes and his pale face seemingly glowing from the light reflected from the snow. She walked over to him and stopped. "Are you well, Sir Lancelot?"

Lancelot looked to her and smiled faintly. "Oui, I am well," he said. "I am well and I think I have fallen in love."

Arturia blinked and rubbed her tummy absently. "With whom?"

"Lady Gwenivere," said Lancelot, blushing faintly.

Arturia nodded. "She is a good find and very pretty." She had managed to catch the eye of the great Cuchulainn, of course she was pretty! Arturia banished this from her mind as soon as it erupted, lest she speak it aloud. That would have been a very embarrassing moment if she had.

Lancelot eyed her and leaned down slightly. "You're grown a bit in your belly, I see. Our Lord Cuchulainn's, yes?"

She blushed heavily and moved away from Lancelot. "Yes, it is his."

"Why did we leave Ulster so suddenly, my queen? You have been very depressed as of late, though you don't seem as such now."

Arturia looked away and started for her chambers. "I have much on my mind, Sir Lancelot. I pray you will be well with Lady Gwenivere once you have made your affections known to her. I must leave." Then, she scurried off as fast as she could to her chambers, Lancelot watching her with some confusion.

Lancelot frowned and moved toward the door before he saw Emiya come near with a very dark look toward him. Lancelot glared back and straightened his posture. He had no need to put his hand on his sword, for he could draw it very quickly without a problem. "Emiya… come to take care of your mistress?"

"It's not your business if I am or not, now is it? And you call yourself a gentleman." Emiya snorted and walked into the queen's chambers, shutting the door sharply in Lancelot's face.

Lancelot clenched his fists as he glared at the door. Emiya was the one man in this whole castle that he simply could not stand or even understand. The man seemed very angry toward anyone who came near his mistress, even her most trusted knights. He walked away after a moment and toward the counsel chamber where he might find one of his brother knights sitting and discussing one matter or other.

* * *

"You should eat more," said Emiya, offering a plate toward Arturia. She shook her head and moved away from him, causing him to sigh with some irritation.

"I'm not hungry," she said softly. That was a first! She LOVED his cooking so much that she tended to eat even HIS portion of meal and then eat the rest that was left over.

"Then, you should rest. It is not good to be so stressed and worried," said Emiya.

Arturia gazed at her plate and poked at the chicken he had prepared for her. After a moment, she began eating slowly. Despite it all, she still felt uncomfortable around Emiya since he had become her lover. She simply felt wrong for loving the way he kissed her or held her as though she were like glass and he were afraid she might fade away suddenly.

She felt his arms wrap around her from behind and felt his kiss upon her ear; his hands rubbing her belly gently as though he were petting the child inside. "You should rest, Artuira," he said softly. "If you wish, I will lay beside you."

Arturia clutched his arms and leaned into the warmth of his body. She enjoyed the gentleness he gave her as he held her in his arms before she moved away from him and did as he bade her do. He soon came after her and lay beside her and kissed her gently on her forehead before letting her fall asleep there. There he would stay until she woke up and they went about duties as usual once more.

* * *

The black castle was thickly covered in snow and ice, which was only slightly unusual. The people milled about and spoke to each other. They didn't seem to pay much attention toward Cuchulainn, though he did ride with a great deal on to keep him warm, his head covered with a hood lined with fur. He made his way toward the castle and stopped just before the stable where he looked up to the queen's window, the window he remembered so well.

He watched for a moment before he saw Emiya standing there in the window, his back to it. Soon, Arturia appeared and he hugged her to him, kissing her forehead affectionately. Something unnatural growled to life inside Cuchulainn's heart. A queer emptiness sucked his heart out and left him with a void, the creature of hate boiling up from the resulting mess and taking its place in his ribcage. Emiya was doing far more than he had ever done, which meant Arturia was allowing him to do so.

And, for the first time since he was a boy, Cuchulainn was sorely jealous.


	52. Chapter Fifty One

_**A/N: blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. w I 3 the 10**__**th**__** Doctor Who. w **_

_**Chapter Fofty-One**_

Arturia looked out the window, rubbing her belly. She stopped when she heard a small commotion from the main hall downstairs. She stood up slowly, the belly starting to weigh down her form as the baby grew. She was told she was now in the third trimester and would soon blow up entirely, though the belly had started growing fairly large against her small frame. When she thought of this it made her afraid. She was afraid of what would happen when she gave birth. She was so much smaller than normal women, and yet, this was the age when most women had a few children already, having given birth prior at thirteen or fourteen.

She walked out and looked around before heading down the steps carefully. There were people laughing and calling at someone who seemed to have just arrived. She stopped at the first landing and saw the people gathered around a person. She made her way downward and blinked, trying to find who was at the center of the throng. Blue hair spiked backward on the top of his head and a long ponytail on the bottom was what met her. Then, his broad smile which could charm anyone in the world into falling for him alerted him to her.

"Cuchulainn?" she gasped. She started up the stairs as fast as she could go, slipping on the steps. She yelped as she fell backward, but a strong pair of arms attached to the handsome face and body of Cuchulainn caught her. He panted slightly from the mad dash he had made to her and leaned down. He kissed her gently and smiled warmly at her.

"Missed me, I see," he said, chuckling softly. A few of the maidservants giggled to each other before they silenced. He swept her up into his arms and started up the stairs. "Pardon me, my people, but it seems I must tuck in my wife!" he said joyously. The men chuckled and laughed loudly at this as the main floor disappeared from Arturia's sight.

They reached the room they would share, and had shared previously. Emiya had left to tend to some duties outside for a little while, which left Arturia alone with Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn put Arturia down on her feet and then suddenly kneeled down and pressed his ear to her tummy, holding her around her tiny waist to him. She blinked down at him as he hummed softly to her tummy and nuzzled against her as though by doing this he could reach the baby within.

"Cu…," she said softly.

"Shhh I have waited so very long to do this. Please allow me to continue," he said softly as he stroked her on her spine in slow gentle motions.

Arturia remained silent as she watched him and then stroked his hair. He closed his eyes and hummed that song that reflected her former life that he seemed so fond of. As she gazed at him tears welled up in her eyes and trickled over her cheeks. She had thought she would never see him again!

He stopped after a while and looked up at her. She was attempting to dry her eyes, but was unsuccessful as they seemed to overflow over her cheeks. He stood up slowly and pulled out a handkerchief from his sleeve and dried her face. He didn't usually need to carry one, but Emer had informed him, after Caley was born, that he might need to should he run into trouble with Caley as she grew up.

Arturia sniffled and held the handkerchief to her as she cried. Cuchulainn gazed at her before he rubbed her eyes with his thumbs, smiling faintly at her. "Cry all you want, little queen," he said softly, "for it is good for a woman to cry. If she does not at some point cry, she will cease to be a woman."

Arturia looked up at him, blinking away her tears as a look of great confusion came over her lovely, yet swollen, features. "Pardon?"

Cuchulainn laughed and kissed her. And what a kiss it was! It was as though Cuchulainn and Arturia both had been building the need for each other up inside them and were releasing some of it in a grand explosion of need. She moaned as she kissed back and clutched the shirt and wool he had draped around him and around his waist as his their tongues fought battles inside their mouths for supremacy. When they did break apart, it wasn't at a great distance. He held her to him and kissed her forehead and then her lips once more before nuzzling into her hair. "I have missed you so much," he said. It was true; despite the anger held toward her, he could not help himself in her presence.

"Cuchulainn," she said softly, "Why have you come?"

He moved away and gazed at her. "Because I want you," he said," I can't live without you near me. I know, I've tried. I can't think properly without the need for you arising inside me."

Arturia felt a tugging inside her as she gazed at him. She held it back inside before it could go out of control, moving away from him. Just then, Emiya walked in, smiling faintly as he spied her and then immediately froze in his spot when he saw Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn eyed him as Emiya eyed Cuchulainn, both judging how to respond to the sudden presence of either.

Emiya bowed his head toward Cuchulainn, closing his eyes as he did so. "Pardon my presence, my king," he said, though he sounded the teensiest bit unhappy to see the new king there.

Cuchulainn snorted and watched him. "Do me a favor, Emiya. Stay outside for a little while. I want to talk to you later."

Emiya bowed his head again and walked out, snapping the door shut behind him. He leaned on it and closed his eyes once more, his heart dancing inside his chest like a frenzied Irish dancing girl.

Cuchulainn turned to Arturia, seeing the mask, nay, the shell, form around her like a stone cage. He grunted and leaned against her table, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he watched her retreat further from him while she simply stood in one spot.

"He's made love to you, hasn't he," he said.

Arturia gazed at him with those dead eyes and bowed her head. "Yes."

"Why?"

Arturia looked up at him and then closed her eyes so she didn't have to actually face him. "Because you weren't there." She stopped and wiped a tear rolling over her cheek and looked at him, trying to keep her rapidly failing composure. "Because I felt I more than likely would never see you again, for we are no longer married and bound to one another. Because….," she paused as the full force of the tears started to break the dam she had erected inside herself, "Because Emiya offered to love me."

"So you love him?" asked Cuchulainn, gazing at her, assessing her every move.

"I… I don't know," she said. "You told me to leave and so I left. I felt it was probably best that I totally leave so that I wouldn't burden you further, however, it also made my chest hurt even worse than before. I couldn't bear to eat, couldn't bear to sleep, I was simply there with nothing and Shirou came to me and told me that if I allowed him, he would love me with everything in his heart."

"So the bloke's got an actual name that's as odd as the first?" Cuchulainn smirked wryly before he nodded to her. "Please continue if there's more."

"I… I don't believe I have more to say," she said, standing her ground like the queen he knew her to be. "Are you to leave again? I am not bound to you anymore."

Cuchulainn snorted and shook his head. "You have always been bound to me, if not with that ring on your finger there, then by that babe in your belly. You'll never be rid of me that easily."

Arturia had forgotten that she had taken the ring out that morning and was wearing it. It really was a very pretty ring and even if it held no more significance than that she still loved it. "Then, I have committed adultery against my husband."

Cuchulainn, for the first time since he had found out she had killed Emer, looked livid, though he suppressed the emotion as he glared at her dangerously. She silenced herself and once more stood her ground as though she were going to have a royal fight with him. "I will allow myself to be punished as is proper in this sort of situation," she said after a moment. Once more, the dangerous spark flared to life in Cuchulainn's eyes. Once more, she silenced.

"For the love of your God and whatever else you people worship," he said, growling a little in irritation. "If you are to be condemned for loving another man, for showin' the LEAST bit of passion and basic need toward a man who has proved time and again he has loved you since the very beginning, then stop wasting your time on such a terrible deity!"

Arturia was taken aback as she jumped slightly at his outburst. "What?"

"You heard me!" said Cuchulainn. "A truly gracious and forgiving father would not condemn a daughter to the pits of whatever hell you can conceive for loving one man while loving another! If he is not that way, but condemns those who are given such an excess such as you of the very thing he gave to humans to feel more than anything else toward each other, then he is not a just and caring creator, but a sham!"

Arturia held onto the cross around her neck and blinked in surprise. "Cuchulainn! That's enough!"

"No! It is NOT enough!" he growled. "I've done more, worse things than you could ever imagine, committed more sins against your God than you could possibly imagine. I'm sure you've done a great many things, but nothing compared to me!" He moved toward her and she stepped backward before he caught her with his hands on her cheeks and pulled her close, kissing her passionately for a moment. When he pulled away, his face was calmer, but his eyes almost glowed with what feelings showed in their red depths. "You aren't a monster, Arturia," he said softly, "You are a little wayward, but then everyone else is. You simply live the best way you can and keep on going."

He kissed her again and nuzzled against her forehead gently, rubbing her cheekbones with his thumbs. "No saints," he said. She blinked up at him in confusion as he smiled faintly, lovingly, down at her. "There are no saints on this Earth. Very few could be said to be as such, such as Emer, but not more than her. Oh, we can try, but in the end, we are simply human. Even me, who is half god, am a human being just as you are. You forget this in lieu of being seen as a great queen, but it only makes you half human in everyone's eyes to be so cold and unfeeling, to be so disciplined. Humans were given a great gift, the ability to feel, receive and give love to others. Without love, we are little more than animals going about business. Some could be said to be that, but they are still human anyway."

Arturia's eyes stung as fresh tears started back up in them. "You… you don't know the full depth of my sins, Cu. I've murdered and forced others to murder long before I had Emiya."

"Doesn't matter. You're with me now and I won't tolerate this blatant self pity from you, Arturia. You are strong and confident. That is a driving force toward me," he said softly. He moved away from Arturia and nodded. "So, do you love Emiya?"

Arturia nodded and looked away. He nodded and smiled faintly. "No matter what, Arturia… you are my wife. I love you more than anything else in the world."

"I don't want you to go away," said Arturia as she snapped her head around quickly and grabbed a hold of his kilt. "Please! Please don't leave!"

Cuchulainn laughed and pulled her near, hugging her tightly. "A pack of wild dogs couldn't take me away from you, you silly woman!"

"Then, what… what will you do if I love another?" Arturia was very confused, uncertain of what was happening as things reeled out of her control.

He kissed her forehead and rubbed her back gently as he gazed down at her. "I will have a talk with him, but in the end, should he choose you and to stay by your side, you will have us both."

"I couldn't possibly!!" cried Arturia.

"You will, Arturia. I can not stand to see you two play around each other, especially when you've managed to pop the bloke's cherry after he's grown up into a man." Arturia looked confused at his wording before he rolled his eyes. "He was a virgin before he made love to you, I expect, given how devoted he is toward you. Nothing to worry about, though."

"How can you say that?" she asked, almost pleading to know what was happening.

"Because I've done worse. I've probably impregnated half of the Irish women in Ireland, all while I was with Emer. However, she forgave me, simply because I would come back to her eventually and when I was with her, she was the greatest thing to ever walk on this Earth. I doubt I'll get such liberties with you, but it doesn't matter. What matters is you will have us both to love you, for I know you have not had love before we came to you and loved you."

Arturia blushed faintly as Cuhculainn held her. She nodded silently and retreated to the bedchamber. "Then, I agree," she said softly, keeping her back to him so he couldn't see how badly she was blushing. He grinned at her and nodded.

"Aye, good, little queen," he said. Then, he left and went down the hall to where Emiya was sitting. "Oi, you!"

"If you wish me to leave then tell me now," said Emiya, looking highly irritated and very bored.

"Don't get cheeky. I am your king now," said Cuchulainn as he eyed Emiya with some disgust. It passed and he nodded to Emiya. "How do you feel towards Arturia?"

Emiya looked away and ignored him. Cuchulainn kicked Emiya's hip and stepped back as the man snapped around and tried to hit him. When he missed his mark, he frowned and looked away once more. "What do you care? I'm just a servant."

"Aye, you are, but you're Arturia's servant," said Cuchulainn as he put his fists upon his hips. "Do you love her?"

"YES!" snarled Emiya, now bothered beyond his control. "Yes! I love her! Happy? Now leave me be so I might be able to calm myself!"

"No."

Emiya twitched and looked over at Cuchulainn's now smirking face. He wanted to rip the king's face apart simply for smiling at him with that smug look as though he knew something Emiya didn't.

"I'm going to propose something to you and you answer me honestly. Don't be silent, answer me," said Cuchulainn.

"Fine."

"I propose that she take you as her lover. We will both be attached to her as her husbands, but you will of course not be able to be seen in public with her unless you wanted to cause your mistress a serious scandal," said Cuchulainn.

Emiya frowned and looked away. "All right."

"But?"

"But, I want to be in the room next to yours," said Emiya, closing his eyes. "I have no wish to be around when you make love to her, nor do I wish you to see us together."

"Aye, sounds good. I've no wish to have a man watch me make love to my wife, either," said Cuchulainn.

Emiya opened his hazel eyes and gazed at nothing in front of him. "She has you now, so you will protect her while in your bedchamber. I am not needed there. I will still guard and protect her, but you are far greater than I in that area."

"You're better with sneaking up upon me and anyone else than anyone I've ever seen, Emiya. Don't underestimate yourself."

Emiya looked to Cuchulainn and nodded. "Fine, but I wish to be in the next room over."

"Done and done," said Cuchulainn as he nodded to Emiya. "I will have it set up for you living inside the room."

Emiya felt odd, a strange elation that was very liberating inside his heart. He was allowed to touch, kiss, to make love to Arturia as her lover. That was more than he had ever expected, though he did have to share her with her new husband. He realized soon after that Cuchulainn was truly a good man and did what he felt was best for everyone involved, similar to Arturia.

* * *

A couple months passed soon after that and Arturia's scream could be heard all over the castle. Cuchulainn dropped what he was doing and bolted into the castle to see what had happened to Arturia. Emiya was sitting outside the infirmary where her screams could be heard all over, her cries being that of a woman in the most soul wrenching pain he had ever heard outside of Emer giving birth. Even back then he could hardly handle it, for he knew it had to be, but to the gods he wished he could have made it easier on her. Now, Arturia was going through the pain of birth and he could do little but watch as she screamed in agony.

Emiya sat on the floor outside the door, pale like a sheet and holding his knee to him with his knuckles white. Cuchulainn watched the man before he headed into the room himself. The door was locked! He bounced off the door in a second and hit the floor on his rear, gawping up at the door as though he had never seen such a thing as a locked pair of doors.

"They shoved me out when I tried to get at the healer to pull the baby out," said Emiya.

"It… takes getting used to the knowledge that you have little existence during such a time. All you can do is wait for the moment when the baby is born and the woman is given a clean bill of health," said Cuchulainn bitterly.

Emiya snorted and rubbed his face. "She gasped and there was a pool of what looked to be water around her feet. She cried out again and then the screaming started. I picked her up and took her to the infirmary in hopes someone might take care of her. They shoved me out when I started acting up and locked the door on me."

"I'm the ruddy king of this place!" cried Cuchulainn. Arturia screamed and cried this time, sobbing for his name, only it wasn't Cuchulainn she sobbed, it was another, more secretive, name that only he knew outside of those who knew him when he was a child.

"SETANTA!!" she sobbed. "SETANTA PLEASE!!"

He kicked the door down and ran over to her, grabbing up her hand. He had only told her once what his old name used to be, the one that his father, the god of light, had told his mother to name him before he was given the more permanent name Cuchulainn at the age of seven. Since then, she had begun using his old name as a sort of term of endearment when she was being very personal with him.

Her face was red and swollen as she breathed heavily as the nurses told her to. She cried out in pain again and held his hand with that same insane strength her tiny body held. "Come on, Arturia, you can do it," said Cuchulainn in a hushed tone.

She cried and gripped his hand again. He was so very glad that his hand was not actually real and he could get it replaced should she actually manage to bend the thing in the wrong direction. He winced slightly as she put more pressure on his hands and rubbed her arm gently with his other hand.

This continued for a while before there was a second set of lungs declaring life as a baby screamed and cried as it was pulled from Arturia's body. Arturia, almost euphoric from the pain, rolled her eyes and looked over to Cuchulainn as though she were in a haze. He suspected she was from the look of her. "Cuchulainn?"

"Aye, I'm here, wife," he said, smiling sweetly to her, glad she seemed to be all right. One healer cleaned up the baby as the other dealt with where that child was birthed from. After a while, they took out the placenta and then healed her there with potions so she might recover faster. They handed the baby to her and she gazed at it with a faint smile. "He's a boy," she said softly. The boy indeed looked like a cross between the two of them. His eyes were the same as Cuchulainn's, but his hair was bright blonde and he was fairly small.

The nurse moved to take the baby, but Arturia moved to keep the baby in her arms. "The child will be hungry soon and we have a wet nurse for him." Arturia gazed at her in confusion. The healer sighed and shook her head. "Most royals wish to keep their breasts looking normal when they give birth. Feeding the child by yourself will make your breasts look odd eventually."

"I don't care," said Arturia, looking much like a lioness now than she had ever looked before as she held the baby to her breast. She pulled the front of her shift away and allowed the baby to feed upon her breast, getting a very odd expression as she did so. Cuchulainn couldn't help but snigger a little at her face.

"Ferdia," said Cuchulainn. "We'll name him Ferdia."

Arturia nodded as she gazed at the small baby in her arms. "That sounds good," she said, in awe of what she was doing.

Cuchulainn leaned down and kissed her forehead before standing up and motioning for Emiya to walk in. He came in and gazed at Arturia with an odd expression. Then, he walked over and kissed her forehead as well, kneeling down beside her bed opposite from Cuchulainn.

"I am well, Emiya," she said before yawning. Cuchulainn sat down on the bed beside her and let her lean into him, his arm around her. She nuzzled against him and started drifting off like that on him as Emiya watched her.

"Indeed, I see that, Arturia," said Emiya, smiling faintly. Soon, she fell asleep while the babe in her arms also started falling asleep against her.


	53. Chapter Fifty Two

_**A/N: my mom doesn't want us to come over while she's gone. :: rolls eyes:: She's probably afraid we'll steal something, which is bogus. I swear she projects her own problems onto US, because we don't steal or lie, but she sure as hell does. And if any of my relatives see this? LEARN THE TRUTH. The woman is a liar and a thief and she only out for her own gain. She doesn't care about anyone but herself. Any of her friends see this? LEARN TO SEE THE TRUTH, YOU MORONS! I know ya'll are her friends, but this is ridiculous. Even I don't tolerate such behavior of my own friends! If one of my friends is doing something stupid, I'll say so! I expect the same from them to me as I expect the same behavior from everyone else around this world! **_

_**RAWR!!**_

_**Chapter Fifty-Two**_

Cuchulainn reviewed the men who were going to be accepted to be taught how to be soldiers in their ranks. Bedivere seemed very tense toward one young man in particular. Cuchulainn eyed him carefully as he flicked his gaze from the name and to Bedivere. "What on Earth has you so uptight, Bedivere?" he said, getting annoyed with the pale haired man.

Bedivere gazed at Cuchulainn and looked away. "You are my king and so I must answer you. However, I serve Arturia, not you, though you seem good enough."

Cuchulainn's annoyance shot up another notch. Just how many men were there that wanted under Arturia's skirt?! Granted, she was very cute and extremely beautiful when she smiled, or just stood there really, but to have this much devotion for her when she was quite clearly taken and having a new king was ridiculous and angering. He didn't put up this much fuss when the leaders were changed out in their ranks! He did as he was told, learned what he could and then took his own way when all was laid down for him. That was the life of a soldier, not pandering to a leader when they were quite obviously unable to do something for the time being!

Bedivere sighed and lowered his head. "I apologize for my extremely rude behavior just this moment," said Bedivere softly, "I am… still adjusting, I suppose. You may do what you will with me for insulting your highness."

"Stop, just stop with that 'highness' shit," said Cuchulainn, groaning as he rubbed his face. He was still not used to it and doubly so with these men. "I may be your king, but you belonged to Arturia long before I came along." Bedivere looked over at him in surprise as Cuchulainn gazed at him through one of his fingers. He ruffled back his blue hair and leaned back in his chair much like the old hound he was supposed to be, arms and legs carelessly flung around the chair in a pose that quite clearly was the complete and total opposite of their beloved, stiff, queen. "I'm just like you, mate," said Cuchulainn, "I grew up in the ranks of soldiers and then went off on my own to become an out an out warrior, coming BACK to become a soldier in my own king's ranks once more. I don't know your story, but it can't be too different from mine in some fashion. That's why it's so irritating that you call on me with such formality. I don't care about it in public, but you're in a chamber with me as an equal, right? That's what this damn round table is supposed to represent, correct? Then, treat me as you would one of your fellow knights."

Bedivere was taken aback by his new king's behavior, but found it very agreeable. This man, this hero, was as the tales of him told. He was laid back in his demeanor and hated formality, free of spirit and heart. Despite his dislike of him initially, the man did know what he was talking about. Bedivere bowed his head slightly to Cuchulainn, acknowledging him. "I understand, Lord Cuchulainn."

Cuchulainn rolled his eyes at being called "lord", but didn't press the issue. Old habits die hard, after all. "Just tell me what is wrong with you and what has you so uptight," he said.

Bedivere held up the name of the man in question. "This man that you were looking at just now is unnaturally older than when we saw him before. No one but us knows of his appearance and it disturbs those of us who have been with Arturia for a long time to know of him being so near. We had hoped Emiya had eliminated him, but it seems he did not or my queen did not order him to do so."

"What is so terrible about him?" asked Cuchulainn, frowning faintly. He wished he had a view of the man. Mordred was the man's name and his statistics said he was about sixteen or seventeen, clearly old enough to be married and thus old enough to join the ranks as a soldier or a knight if he showed the promise, which the notation that was presented to him showed quite clearly he was very able, almost abnormally so like Lancelot.

Bedivere flashed his eyes toward Cuchulainn, causing Cuchulainn to become somewhat startled by his intense glare. "What I am about to tell you is only suspicion since Arturia was asleep at the time," he said. Cuchulainn nodded and leaned forward onto the table somewhat. Bedivere nodded and looked to the table. "Long before you truly came into the picture, Arturia has a sister that she does not speak to. This sister is the mother of her nephews Gawain, Gaheris and Aggravaine. This sister, Morgan, has hated Arturia since she was a child, from what I've been able to gather. Gawain told me what he knew from goading his father Lot into telling. Morgan ostracized Arturia along with her mother because Arturia wasn't of the same blood as she. That Arturia is now the queen would make Morgan very angry to have a bastard in the position of power she should have been given."

"Power hungry bitch, I've got that now. What about this bitch is so worrisome?" Cuchulainn said this with a straight face, but inside he was roiling. This was the sister who shunned Arturia when she was so much younger? This was the spawn of the mother who also shunned a little girl pleading for someone to touch her and make her feel wanted?

"That boy she has claimed as her own son, which would make him a nephew to Arturia as well," said Bedivere softly. "However, there are some inconsistencies with his birth. He was born after a strange event occurred and Morgan was able to get home to her manor."

"It seems," said Bedivere as he leaned back slightly in his chair, "that one of the maids was paid off to put a potion into Arturia's soup. Morgan's a witch and very deft at making potions, much like Merlin. This potion… turned…" Bedivere looked like he was about to be ill as he spoke, causing Cuchulainn to feel even more dread as to what had occurred to Arturia before he was anywhere near Camelot for any real length of time. "Into a man."

Well, that was very disturbing! Cuchulainn attempted to think of Arturia as a man and had a great deal of difficulty in doing so. "So… what occurred? Did this maid sleep with Arturia while she was a man and the witch stole the baby from her?"

"Not as such. We have only Arturia's 'dreams' to tell us what happened. She told us a great deal, though it was mostly because she was confused as to what had occurred to her." Bedivere looked incredibly uncomfortable now. Damned Britons and their stiff personalities! "We feel that…. Morgan herself… gave oral sexual favors to Arturia while she slept.. to get the seed she needed to create Mordred himself from her womb."

Cuchulainn's stomach fell. After a moment, it came back up again where it belonged and part of him felt very irritated and another part wanted to laugh. "Arturia… got… turned into a man with all the right plumbing… and got a blow job?"

Bedivere looked over as Cuchulainn sniggered, his shoulders shaking as he tried not to laugh very hard about it. "It's not so funny!" gasped Bedivere, looking very outraged at Cuchulainn's mirth. "She was traumatized by it for a long time!!"

Cuchulainn remembered how Arturia had asked him of similar things, how men liked that done to them and why he was reluctant to have it done to him in particular. He recalled her actions and her words and recovered somewhat from his laughter. "All right, yes, I know she was traumatized. So this is the boy, hmmm? You're right, he is unnatural. We should keep a watch on him to see what he plans on doing. If he thinks he's going to take over as king, as an heir, he's sorely mistaken."

Bedivere nodded and stood. "I will inform the others of this when they are free." Then, he stopped and turned to Cuchulainn before clicking his heels together and bowing to Cuchulainn in a very stiff manner. He straightened up and walked off afterward with a great deal of grace, much like a woman.

Cuchulainn leaned back in his chair and regarded his discussion with the proud knight. He had just acknowledged him as a leader. That was good, that meant one person was down and soon the rest would acknowledge him as such. All except Emiya, who would always come second to him in Arturia's eyes. Emiya would always hate Cuchulainn a little for being the one that Arturia went to first.

He stood and looked out the window to the grounds below. He looked around the many heads of men and young men starting out. He found himself drawn to one in particular, though he could only guess why. A dark haired young man with gold eyes was doing his hardest to fight and learn. Only a few people did he know personally with gold eyes and he was married to one and the rest stayed in Scotland in a certain school for witches and wizards.

"So that's him, huh? Figures. The lad looks a lot like his brothers in some aspects, but those eyes are a dead give away. They're as cold and stoney as well as colored the same as hers." Cuchulainn snorted at his new little project and moved away from the window.

* * *

A line of men lead the way from Ireland down toward where their boats were moored before they had come up to Ireland. Gold adorned the carriages that carried the royal entourage toward Camelot where their target was. In one carriage were male and female dancers, another carried prostitutes for the men, but the last carried the king and his wives.

Mei gazed at her husband and smiled as he watched the land passed by. Asma and Fathia were asleep at the back of the large carriage. Their children were home in New Babylon where they were being cared for and guarded heavily by the best men from the same type of schooling that Mei had. Asma alone had her own connections, those that she would not share with even Gilgamesh or Mei and Fathia. She had some of her own men come in and take up around the palace, men in charge of protecting those of her own family since long before the great war that had completely torn apart the land.

Gilgamesh looked to Mei and smiled faintly, though it disappeared as a faint bit of pink filtered into his pale cheeks. Mei smiled faintly and moved to sit beside him. She leaned her decorated head against his shoulder and rubbed his bared stomach gently. "You feel worried," she said.

"Because… I did something really foolish long ago here," he said, turning a little more pink and now beginning to jiggle his leg as though he really didn't want to be there talking about what they were starting up on.

Mei eyed him a moment and nodded. "Indeed, you have done some very foolish things here, my lover, but for this time you are coming to greet the new king of both Ireland and Briton, am I correct?" There was a slight edge to her tone that felt like she was pressing one of her knives into his ribcage as to how he should answer.

He grunted in slight irritation and looked away some more. "Yes."

Mei smiled faintly and reached up, taking down her carefully made hair. Gilgamesh looked to her and raised an eyebrow before he saw where this was leading. He smirked and took one of her long black tresses and curled it around his hand, kissing it and smelling its perfume. She smiled warmly at him and stroked his cheek. "My lover," she said softly, "You have no need to worry over anything whilst you have us with you. Fathia has no connections, but she has courage, courage that loving you has brought about. Asma and I both have our own families to help us. Whatever worries you will be soon put to rest."

Gilgamesh gazed at her a moment, his gaze turning from soft, to self satisfied, to intensely passionate as he moved toward her and dove into her waiting mouth, wrapping his arms around her and binding her to him possessively. As the caravan moved along he made love to her there, stifling her cries with his mouth so as to not wake his other two wives and disturb them, though mostly out of Mei's request for such silence than his own. Personally, he could care less who heard him make love to any one of the ladies, for their cries of pleasure pleased him beyond anything else. It was him who made them squeal with delight and no one else!

* * *

Emiya gazed at Ferdia as he looked up at him with bright red eyes and a great big smile. He held up his arms to him and waved them around. Emiya wasn't really certain what he should do, but he did what the child seemed to be telling him. "You want up?" He picked up the little boy and held him to him. The boy was that of another man, a man who quite clearly was staying around and was taking care of the woman he had managed to stay with as a lover to her. He wondered what sort of child he would make in her as he stroked Ferdia's cheek. Ferdia giggled and hung onto him.

He walked over to where Arturia was reading documents and letters sent to her from her nobles and those outside of Briton. It really was a much larger kingdom than what one woman could handle, but she was determined to do it all herself even if it broke her. Emiya smiled faintly at her and walked inside the study.

Arturia looked up at Emiya and smiled faintly. He leaned down and kissed her gently as he held the apparently very happy Ferdia squealing for his mother. Arturia took him and gazed at him in wonder.

"Such wonders… don't often happen," said Emiya as he moved away. His smile faded after a moment. "What if you become pregnant and it is mine, Arturia?"

Arturia looked over at Emiya with some surprise. He noticed she didn't even bother to hide it. Was she comfortable with him now? "What else would I do with a child of my own blood, Shirou? I will love it as it should be loved," she said, the smile returning, a small gentle smile that warmed him from head to toe.

"You know what love is now?" said Emiya softly.

"I… have been shown love from two men. I know love and how to view it," she said before turning away, her ears turning pink. He smiled faintly.

"Then, I will let my heart be governed by you, my queen," he said as he bowed down and kissed the top of her head. She blushed more and stroked Ferdia's hair.

She snapped around quickly and moved to the window to look out. "Shirou, your eyes are far better seeing than mine. Tell me what it is out there that is coming, for I had a feeling someone familiar is making his way near."

Emiya moved to the window and focused on the western border. His hawk like seeing range found a glint of gold and many horses headed their way. "Seems as though either we have a band of rich gypsies coming near… or we have the Golden King coming back to Camelot."

Arturia stood as she gazed out the window, her face stone cold and her gaze far away. "Have the knights bring him in, make certain they are to know that they will not attack unless provoked as well as warning the golden king know that I will not receive him unless he plans to be civil."

Emiya nodded and ran off to do as she bid. Ferdia looked up at his mother in confusion. He knew something was wrong, he could feel it, but he didn't know what was causing his mother to be so incredibly tense now. Arturia kissed his forehead and went about finding a nurse to take care of him before going off to be by Cuchulainn's side.


	54. Chapter Fifty Three

_**A/N: sorry for the long hiatus. Here's another chapter for ya'll to enjoy. **_

_**Man, I've got far too many stories to tell. XD;;**_

_**man it's been far too long since I've written. I hope it comes off well!**_

_**Chapter Fifty-Three**_

The caravan proceeded along the border of the city; musicians playing for the Golden King and his wives as well as the men as they proceeded through the warming lands of Briton. The last Gilgamesh had been there the snow was so thick that his carriages nearly got lost in it. Now, all around him was beginning to look more like the legends of the land told; small patches of green grass coming up through the snow, trees beginning to bloom and a flower or two coming out of the ground. A shout from one of the soldiers alerted Gilgamesh, however, to the appearance of a group of men on horses.

"We have soldiers coming at us, my king!" cried one of the men.

The knights in black armor came closer and closer to the gilded caravan as Gilgamesh walked out of the largest carriage and pulled his cloak around him tighter. He hated this British weather! His men on their horses moved around the carriage to protect it without him having to raise a hand to indicate that was what he wanted. He smirked at himself, relishing the power that his wives' families had given him and the power he now had over the people of his land now.

He recognized the man at the lead of the Camelot entourage; there was no mistaking that white blonde hair and feminine face. However, there were a fair few more men than the last he had seen of this place. Gilgamesh crossed his arms in front of his chest expectantly as the group neared and stopped.

"King Gilgamesh," said Bedivere, "What is your business in my king and queen's lands?"

Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow. So the little witch found herself a man to be her king? "I was coming from Ireland and found myself in your lands," said Gilgamesh. He smirked a little more and chuckled for a moment before he felt rather than heard his wife Mei's voice stab him in the back.

"If all you are going to do is taunt the fellow, then at least let me have a chance at using him for target practice." Her head was leaning out from the door of the carriage with a rather annoyed expression on her lovely powdered face.

Bedivere frowned in irritation at the woman and then looked to Gilgamesh. "I am here to remind you of the last time you trespassed without permission, King Gilgamesh. If you wish to come into the city, you will have to order your men to lower their weapons and remain civil. If not, I will allow my queen and king to remind you just why it is you were cast out from Briton so easily," he said, his tone colder than usual.

Gilgamesh felt a shiver run down his spine at the tone in Bedivere's voice, but refused to let it show. "Mei, please move back into the carriage. We're guests, after all, and guests that threaten aren't welcome guests," said Gilgamesh without turning to look at Mei. Mei smirked very faintly and moved back into the carriage as she was asked before Gilgamesh turned his back on Bedivere and headed for the door of the carriage as well. "Thank you for being our escort," he said, pausing for emphasis toward the white-blonde haired man, "_Sir_ Bedivere."

Bedivere grunted and waved his hand to his men before turning his horse and galloping toward the castle. Gawain sighed as he looked to Galahad. Galahad shook his head. "I know, I know," said Gawain, "But it would be more entertaining to make a remark on his rather pissy attitude at the moment in comparison to a woman." There were a few snorts and chuckles from the others around him, out of ear shot of Bedivere, as they too turned and allowed the caravan to come up the middle of their ranks.

The ride back to the castle was a long one. They couldn't ride as fast as they had getting out to the edge since the caravan was moving slow for the sake of the carriages, but it was at least not as boring as it could be. The prostitutes cat-called at the "foreign" knights as they progressed; the prostitutes bared their arms and legs toward them with painted faces and coquettish glances. Gawain grinned in spite of himself as he answered some of those calls with some of his own; Galahad near him turned bright red, however, when one younger woman leaned out and she was barely clothed in anything substantial. When they finally reached the city walls, Arturia and Cuchulainn walked out from within the castle.

The caravan made its way toward the castle and then came to a stop. People from the village came out of their homes to see the entourage in curiosity. When the final horse stopped, three women came out of the main carriage behind a relatively tall, handsome man with short blonde hair and intense red eyes. The first woman that had walked out was of some Asian decent, her slanting gold eyes accentuated by the make up she wore; her long black hair pulled up in an elaborate hair style that included gold beads and bells that jingled as she stepped off the carriage. The second woman to come out was a demure woman with a dark blue dress on and a sheer blue veil around her long dark hair and covering her pale, rosy cheeks and rosy lips, leaving only the darkly lined eyes of hers to be seen. The third woman was tall and commanding looking. If there was a princess among these three women, it would have been this one. She wore deep red in her dress and a sheer red veil over her hair; bright green eyes lighting up her dark features like lanterns from behind the veil. Gold adorned all three women in ways that most of the villagers had only imagined.

Arturia and Cuchulainn moved closer toward the group. Arturia nodded her head toward Gilgamesh, gazing at him with those cold gold eyes of hers. Cuchulainn, however, seemed a bit friendlier with how he regarded Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh immediately didn't like the way the man seemed to come toward him. His grin was cheeky and his entire attitude reminded him of a dog. "So you've found yourself a man that is compliant enough to allow as your king, little queen?" said Gilgamesh with unrestrained disdain for Cuchulainn. "You. Regard me with more respect than that grin of yours! I am a king as well!"

Cuchulainn's grin turned rather scary as those red eyes of his flashed a bit in anger. Gilgamesh took note of his eyes, knowing full well that the red eyes were the mark of a god. Cuchulainn cleared his throat and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Arturia, do you mind if I skewer him just yet?"

"My king, would you please not get us killed?" said Asma from behind Gilgamesh with a rather intense glare with those jewel green eyes of hers.

Arturia bowed this time, sweeping out her skirts wide as she did so. "King Gilgamesh of the arid desert lands to the south," she said, "I have not seen you in so very long. Was your trip back home well?"

Gilgamesh blushed faintly and was about to say something else, clearly very angry and embarrassed, but he heard Fathia behind him clear her throat rather loudly. He didn't even need to look behind him to know exactly what looks the three women behind him were giving him. Fathia didn't glare, but hoped clearing her throat might remind him of who was behind him. Asma would have been giving him the most terrifying stare that he had ever seen and likely would make certain he remembered it for a while later. Mei, however, would be as calm and cool as Arturia before him; gazing at him with those gold eyes and making him really wish he had not kept all three women. He sighed in defeat and bowed to the two. "King and Queen of Briton and Ireland, I am King Gilgamesh of New Babylon. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"All right, all right," said Cuchulainn, watching Gilgamesh. It was rather amusing to see him bowing himself down, but the looks of the three women made him understand just why he was doing it. The one in red with her green eyes especially attracted his attention. "Welcome to Camelot, King Gilgamesh."

"You may stay with us for a little while if you wish," said Arturia carefully, "But do no overstay your welcome. You have not been forgiven." With that, she turned and walked back toward the castle. Gilgamesh watched her and that old hunger came over him when he watched her walk away.

Cuchulainn saw the look and grew very irritated at the man for even considering it. The frown turned back into a grin as he turned up the charm in his actions and his words. "With such lovely ladies behind you, King Gilgamesh, it would seem you would not have eyes for much else!"

Gilgamesh twitched involuntarily at the rogue's lofty tone toward his wives and a possessive snarl came from his lip before he stood up straight and laughed haughtily at Cuchulainn. "Ah, but you see, you do the same, I see. With such a pretty little woman, I would expect my wives would not seem so interesting to you!"

"Only because I enjoy the sight of beautiful women," said Cuchulainn, grinning more as Fathia's cheeks grew pink.

"And I enjoy the sight of a strong woman who can equal a king," said Gilgamesh, sneering, "Though I expect she's made herself king and you are the queen now. Does she give you to her soldiers for favors?"

"Gentlemen, it would seem you both are very fine fighting men, but I would rather not have to burn my clothes, thank you. I rather like them and blood is very hard to clean out of silk," said Mei calmly. Then, she walked up toward Cuchulainn and offered her hand, covered in the long sheer silk sleeves she always wore. Cuchulainn bowed and kissed her hand as she eyed him as coldly as Arturia tended to.

"Your husband once caused this place a great deal of trouble," said Cuchulainn, "and I'm here now to make sure he doesn't."

Mei plucked her hand from his quickly and opened her fan, covering her face in an almost flirtatious manner, though her eyes were still as cold as ever. She smiled, her painted lips curving up slightly against her pale face, though as she spoke, it faded into an angry snarl. "King Cuchulainn, I would think that that duty was not for you, as we are his wives and we are the judges of his behavior and his conduct. Not you." She bowed and then walked off toward the doors to the main hall.

Cuchulainn raised his eyebrows and smirked faintly. She was a sharp tongued little woman if he had ever met one, but he still knew an even sharper woman a lot more intimately. Asma came closer toward Cuchulainn, pulling her veil up a bit more in the pinning on her hair, gold earrings jingling on her ears. She bowed to him and then walked on swiftly without a word toward him. The last did not go up with her fellows. Fathia stood back and took Gilgamesh's hand in her gently and pulled on it. When Gilgamesh didn't move, she looked back with those dark brown eyes of hers. "Please?" she asked softly. The very sight of her tugged at Cuchulainn's heart as he watched her. She was so soft-spoken and gentle; he wondered just what misfortune caused to be married to the great bastard in front of him.

"Don't mind him, Fathia," said Gilgamesh, sneering at Cuchulainn. He gave him a look over and snorted derisively, much to Fathia's displeasure. "After all, it is not worth fighting over a bastard son of a lesser immortal such as this man is." With that, Gilgamesh walked past Cuchulainn, letting go of Fathia's hand quickly as he did so.

Cuchulainn's blood boiled. How dare that man insult his father! His fists clenched, Cuchulainn turned to wallop Gilgamesh with a fist to his kingly chin, but a gentle hand on his clenched fist stopped him. He looked to see Fathia standing with her eyes cast down. "Please do not hurt my husband," she said softly, "I know as his wife I have more rights than if I were not, but I know I don't have the right to tell you what to do with yourself." She looked up at him and his heart went out to the little woman before him. Her eyes were big like a little girl's eyes. "Please, your highness, don't pursue this matter. He is baiting you into a fight."

Cuchulainn grunted and looked away at the mention of a fight. He would have loved nothing more than to shove Gae Bolg right into the bastard's chest, but he supposed that another fight with Babylon would result in possibly another outcome or worse. With effort, Cuchulainn calmed himself enough to offer his arm to the woman. "I am Cuchulainn," he said, introducing himself with a flourish of his hand and slight bow toward her, a charming smile on his face.

Fathia's cheeks once more darkened behind the veil and she giggled a little behind a hand. She took his arm and bowed her head toward him. "I am Fathia," she said softly, "It is a pleasure for me to meet you, Lord Cuchulainn."

With a broad grin, Cuchulainn ushered Fathia inside the castle. Unbeknownst to him, Emiya was watching from their room's windows, Ferdia in his arms asleep. Emiya frowned faintly and moved back into the room to put the child to bed so he might continue his nap and went out of the room to join his queen.

Arturia watched as well as the pair walked into the main hall and separated. A strange monster, a devil almost, seemed to tug at her insides at the look Cuchulainn gave the wife of Gilgamesh. As she looked at the little woman, she could understand why. She had a certain likeness to Emer with her graceful movements and gentle appearance. A strange calmness came over Arturia as she gazed at Cuchulainn, however. He looked very angry, ready to kill, as he moved further and further away from Gilgamesh toward Arturia. The calmness was unusual in that as she stood there, a monster ripping apart her heart inside her chest, it felt as though a pair of arms descended around her and hugged her gently. The monster died down and regurgitated what it had eaten, giving back what feeling she had left as Cuchulainn touched her hand with his and grasped it.

"For what reason do you look so angry, Cuchulainn?" she asked softly. "Is it because that woman reminds you of Emer and you don't want her near that man? I can hardly blame you for it, since that man tried to rape me once."

Cuchulainn was taken aback by Arturia's signature bluntness, but recovered. He smiled faintly at his wife and queen and stroked her thumb with his before looking toward Gilgamesh with disdain. "I despise him on principle mostly," he said, keeping his tone low, "He attacked our people, tried to eradicate us all from the islands and then comes back with three women and insults me in front of them."

Arturia gazed coolly toward Gilgamesh as he pulled off his cloak and pulled on a long coat that still bared his tattooed chest to the rest of the castle. The Chinese woman and the other two followed him as they were all led up to their rooms. Cuchulainn leaned down and nuzzled into Arturia's hair and kissed her earlobe gently. "You got jealous, didn't you," he said softly.

"Shush," she said sharply, her cheeks flaming red.

Cuchulainn grinned boyishly at her before kissing her knuckles; he kissed her and walked off to make sure the horses were put into the stables and were fed. She watched him leave and noticed Emiya leaning on the wall of the stairwell, his white hair down in his eyes. She walked toward him and walked up the stairs with him. "Is there a problem, Shirou?" she asked.

"I was only watching," he said in a low voice.

"Watching with a very accusing look in those hazel eyes of yours."

Emiya blushed faintly in his tanned cheeks and coughed. "My queen, it is only because I fear for your marriage to the king."

Arturia eyed him. He glanced at her and looked away. "It is because you saw him talking to one of the wives, isn't it?"

"If my queen saw it and has no problem with it, then I will have no problem with it," said Emiya quickly. The mask was forming once more over Arturia's doll like face. She did have a problem with it, but once more a strange warmth came over her as though a gentle pair of arms hugged her. For a moment, just a moment, Emiya thought he saw a light forming around Arturia, like a small woman hugging her for comfort. "Arturia?"

"I'll… be fine," she said. Then, she walked off quickly to the room, leaving Emiya standing and watching in slightly disbelief and more than a little worry. After all, the woman he had seen hugging Arturia for comfort was the one he had killed on her orders; it was Emer, former queen of Ireland and wife of Cuchulainn.


End file.
